Through Her Eyes
by A Writer With Mixed Interests
Summary: The Walking Dead, Season One through the eyes of Clementine based on my game choices. Some changes and additions will likely be added. First Walking Dead story. *COMPLETE*
1. Prologue

**Through Her Eyes**

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**Hello readers! This is a story I've been planning for a few months or so now. I'm going to try and see if I can do a story though Season One Clementine's point of view. This is my very first TWDG story, so please go easy on me. **

**Summary: The Walking Dead, Season One through the eyes of Clementine based on my game choices. Some changes and additions will likely be added.**

**Enjoy! :D**

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Chapter 1: Prologue

"Now, we'll be back in a week," Diana Lawrence reminded her daughter, Clementine. "Be good for Sandra, okay, honey?"

The curly-haired eight-year-old nodded. "I will, Mom." She looked down at her feet briefly, then back at her mother with her doe amber eyes. "I wish I could go with you," she spoke innocently.

Diana knelt down and gave her a hug. "It's only for seven days, baby, and I promise we'll bring you back a present. We'll call you every day."

"Okay," Clementine replied. Both females turned when they heard the man of the house, Ed, walking downstairs with two suitcases.

Ed walked over and knelt down to Clementine's height. "Hey, hon. Your mom and I will be back before you know it. You still got that hat I gave you, right?"

Clem nodded and ran to get the hat that her father had given her for her fifth birthday. "Got it!" She showed it to her father and placed it on her head. She rarely took it off except for when she was sleeping or bathing.

"Good. That way, we'll always be here," Ed smiled, tapping the front of the hat, making the child giggle. Clementine was definitely a daddy's girl, but she had a great relationship with her mom, too. She was going to miss them.

The doorbell rang then, and Diana went to answer it. "Sandra! We're so glad you could make it!"

"It's no trouble at all, Diana," the young, red-haired woman answered with a smile. "You know I always enjoy watching Clementine."

Clementine smiled at that. Although she still wished that she could go to Savannah with her parents, she loved when Sandra could baby-sit her. She always let her stay up late and watch movies until she fell asleep.

"Well, we'd better go," Ed announced. He turned back to Clem and gave her a tight squeeze. "We'll see you in a week, Clem. Be sure to think of me when you're wearing that hat, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy," Clementine said with a small, yet sad smile. Ed patted her gently on the shoulder and headed to the door.

It was Diana's turn to say good-bye to her daughter. She gave her another hug and told her again that they would be back before she knew it. Sandra and Clementine followed Ed and Diana to the car.

"We love you, Clementine!" Diana called when she rolled down the window. "Be good!"

"I love you too!" Clem yelled back. "Bye, Mom! Bye, Dad!"

Both of her parents waved and drove off, with their daughter watching them drive out of sight. If only she knew that this would be the last time that she saw her father and mother alive, she would hugged them a little tighter.

Later that night after dinner, Sandra and Clementine were sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"And in other news," said the reporter, "people from all around Georgia have reported zombie sightings. Is this all true, or just yet another hoax? Find out after this!"

"Oh, please," Sandra rolled her eyes, talking more to herself than to Clem. "Zombies don't exist, that's all bullshit."

"Swear!" Clementine cried, pointing at her baby-sitter. She had been taught at a very early age that there were just some words that should be left unsaid, according to Diana.

Sandra giggled. "Sorry, Clem. I'll go get the popcorn. I think the movie's about to start."

She got up off of the couch, leaving Clementine with the remote. The TV continued, "And this just in, it has been reported that Lee Everett has-" but Clem changed the channel, not listening to what was being said.

After watching Disney's _The Princess And The Frog,_ Clementine was starting to yawn and rub her eyes. It was already past 10:00 at night, which was quite a bit later than her actual bedtime.

"Tired, Clementine?" Sandra teased.

"Noooo," Clem tried to lie, but she was already falling asleep on the spot.

"Come on, you, time for bed," Sandra got up and helped Clementine to her feet. The two of them went upstairs, and Clem fell asleep in her bed as Sandra read to her, mentally counting down the days until her parents' return.

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"Clementine? Clem, come on, you gotta wake up right now," Sandra whispered, shaking the eight-year-old.

"Hmm? Sandra, what is it?" Clem opened her eyes, confused as to why she was being woken up at three in the morning. She sat up, and her eyes were suddenly fixed on a large bite mark on Sandra's arm. "Sandra, you're hurt!"

"Shh, I'll be okay," Sandra tried to comfort her. "Now I need you to listen to me, right now. Something's going on, and something strange bit me. I don't know what it was, but they're all over the place outside. I'm going to give you some food, and I'll need you to get dressed and go up to your treehouse and hide, okay? You'll be safe up there."

Clementine was still confused, but she quickly got out of bed and dressed in a white sundress, tights, and sandals. Sandra gave her a small box full of crackers, cheese, and marshmallows and told her that she would be up there with her in a few moments.

It turned out that Sandra was right, because when Clementine climbed up to her treehouse, she looked out and saw some strange things walking very slowly towards the fence on the outside. Their clothes were ripped, and their bodies seemed to be somewhat decayed. Were these...dead people? Clementine wasn't sure, but she made sure to stay hidden.

She fell asleep again, but was still alone when she woke up in the morning. Where was Sandra?

Clem looked towards her house and thought she saw Sandra walking around. But she looked very different, almost like those things wandering around behind the fence. Luckily, they couldn't get up to the treehouse.

What was going on?

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**Sorry that was short, but please tell me what you think! I'm sorry if Clem was OOC, I'm still quite new to writing for this fandom. Please leave a review, and if you have a tumblr, please follow my TWDG blog, _youre-strong-clem . tumblr . com_ (ignore the spaces).**


	2. Just Some Guy

**Thank you to seniorcopycat, Xkarz Ravensin, and ForbiddenOne14 for reviewing the first chapter! :) Now here is where we introduce our beloved Lee Everett.**

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Clementine had been up in her treehouse for about two days now, and so far nothing seemed to be dying down outside. There seemed to be more and more of those dead things all around, so the little girl decided to stay in her treehouse until things calmed down...or until her parents came home.

Whichever came first.

Clem was crouched down, trying to remain unseen when she heard a noise. She peeked out the window to investigate.

A man with dark hair seemed to be wandering around the side of the house, his face looking secretive. He stopped for a moment and looked towards the direction of the treehouse, but Clementine gasped and ducked down.

She knew that he wasn't a zombie, he was moving too fast to be one. The man was trying to open all of the windows, but they were all locked. Frustrated, the man grumbled and kicked the house.

"Goddamn it! All I want is the TV! Why the _hell_ can't I get-" the man growled...a little too loudly.

A moaning sound that was beginning to sound all-too familiar to Clementine was heard. A walker appeared out from behind a car in the street, approaching the man, who abruptly stopped and whipped around like a cobra.

Before the walker could get too close, the man smashed its head against the gate, sending it falling. Panting hard, the man looked around and ran away, closing the fence behind him. Clementine watched as he disappeared down the street.

She couldn't help but smile. The back door was unlocked, but the man was too dumb to realize that.

All was quiet for about no less than an hour when Clementine heard a gunshot, which made her jump. Making sure the coast was clear, she climbed down from her treehouse and ran a little into the woods to see what was going on.

A different man was sitting against a police car, looking at a dead corpse that he had possibly shot. He looked up and seemed to notice Clem standing there in the distance, about 500 feet away.

"HELP!" he called in her direction. "GO GET SOMEONE! THERE-THERE'S BEEN A SHOOTING!"

Clem gasped and ran back to her treehouse, not knowing what to do. She would be safe there.

Mere moments after the eight-year-old had climbed back up into the treehouse, she heard the walkers closing in. She also heard the panting sounds of the man who had called to her. Looking out, she saw the man limping towards the fence.

The man was able to climb over the fence, and backed slowly into the patio, breathing hard. Clementine watched him, not sure what he was going to do. She then heard more gunshots, and the zombies' moans weakening. They were straying away from the fence.

"Hello? Anybody?" the man's voice yelled out again. Clementine looked out and saw him standing directly beneath the treehouse.

She looked to her right and saw a hammer that she had brought with her up here, then looked towards the dark-skinned man again. Was he like the man that had tried to take the TV hardly an hour earlier? Should she drop the hammer on this man's head?

She decided not to, and left the hammer where it was. The man limped around the backyard, observing some of the items, such as the tea set Clementine used to have pretend tea parties with her stuffed animals. Then, he walked up the patio stairs and went to the glass door.

"Hello?" he called, knocking on the glass door. "Anybody home? I need a little help."

Clementine watched, wondering what this man was going to do. He already seemed smarter than the previous man.

This fact was proven to be true when the man, after a couple of tries, slid open the glass door. "Coming in. Don't shoot, okay?"

The eight-year-old watched as the man walked around the downstairs of the house, still wondering if he was going to try anything. She turned to her left and saw one of the walkie-talkies that she used to contact her parents. Maybe she should try talking to him?

The man slipped and fell on the puddle of blood in the kitchen, making Clementine flinch. He got up and walked into the kitchen. Much to the little girl's surprise, he opened one of the drawers and found the other walkie-talkie, putting it in his back pocket. But she still wanted to wait to talk to him.

He walked over to the telephone, and pressed a button. Was he listening to a message?

Now was when Clementine decided to talk to him. He wasn't her father, but she had to try.

"Daddy?"

She saw the man pull out the walkie-talkie, and he walked over to the window.

"Hello?"

"You need to be quiet," Clementine warned him. She wanted to help him now.

"Are you okay?" the man asked gently.

"I'm okay. They tried to get me, but I'm hiding until my parents come home."

The man looked around for a moment, and walked away from the window. "What's your name?"

"I'm Clementine. This is my house," the young girl answered. She decided to tell the truth.

"Hi, Clementine. I'm Lee," the man, now known as Lee, replied. A pause. "Where are your parents?"

"They took a trip and left me with Sandra," Clem explained. "They're in Savannah, I think. Where the boats are?"

"Are you safe?" Lee wanted to know.

"I'm outside in my treehouse, they can't get in," Clementine told him.

"That's smart."

"See? Can you see me? I can see you through the window." Clementine opened up the hatch, giving Lee a small smile and a wave. This man seemed nice, he didn't seem to want to do anything bad.

Lee smiled and waved back, but right then, Clementine saw something approaching him. She let out a scream into the walkie-talkie, warning him, and hid back inside the treehouse. She didn't want to see what was going on.

She heard Lee yell again, and she knew that she had to do something then. She grabbed the hammer from earlier and climbed down from the treehouse, running up to the patio and opening the door.

The undead version of Sandra attempted to attack Lee, but the latter was able to pull her - it? - off. He backed up, trying to get away.

Her hands shaky, Clementine held out the hammer. "Here!"

Lee took the hammer and was able to pin Sandra down, knocking the hammer into her skull. It took several tries, but then blood began pouring out from the back of Sandra's head. She was dead...or so Clementine hoped.

Lee got up and put his hands on his knees, panting. "Man..." He got up and turned to the child in front of him. "Hi there."

Clementine backed away from the blood. "Did you kill it?"

"I don't know. I think so," Lee answered.

"Sometimes they come back," Clem pointed out in a small voice.

Lee knelt down to her level. "You've been all by yourself through this?"

"Yeah. I want my parents to come home now."

There was another pause. "I...think that might be a little while, you know?"

"Oh."

Lee walked towards her. "Look, I don't know what happened. But I'll look after you until then."

Clementine turned away briefly, thinking about it. But there probably wasn't any choice. "What should we do now?"

"We need to find help before it gets dark," Lee informed her.

"Yeah, it's not safe at night," she agreed, turning to the door. Most of these events seemed to be happening at night.

Lee took her hand and looked down at her. "Let's go. Stay close to me."

They walked outside, Clementine closing the door behind them. She hoped that her parents wouldn't worry about her if they came back. She went down the patio steps and waited for Lee to walk with her.

When they reached the gate, they saw two men trying to move a car.

"Maaaan!" one whined.

The other sighed. "I ain't never getting home to Mama at this rate."

"This sucks," the first man continued.

"And it's hot dish night."

Lee walked ahead, with Clementine reluctantly following. There was something that she couldn't get out of her mind.

"What's the matter?" Lee asked, kneeling down to her level again.

"Should I stay?" Clementine asked timidly.

"What?"

"I don't want to sleep in the treehouse tonight, but I don't know if I should leave," the eight-year-old revealed. "What if my parents come home?"

"I won't leave you alone," Lee reassured her.

Clem gave him a smile, she was quickly starting to like him. "Let's go somewhere safe that's close, okay?"

"That's a good idea."

They opened the gate. "Hey, man!" Lee called out.

"Holy shit!" the bigger man panicked, holding his arms out. "Don't eat us!"

"We're not gonna hurt you," Lee told him.

"Phew, I thought for a second you and the little one were_ both_ gonna give us the chomp," the thinner man said, relieved.

Clementine never liked being called little, but she decided not to say anything.

"What are you doing?" Lee asked.

"Are you trying to get out of here?" the thin man inquired. "Because you should be. Those things are all over the damn place. I haven't seen anything this gnarly since downtown Atlanta, fifteen miles back."

The same man introduced himself then. "I'm Shawn, Shawn Greene."

"Lee. This is Clementine," Lee replied, gesturing to the little girl.

The other man knelt down on one knee to Clem's level. "I'm Chet," he spoke up, giving her a small wave.

Clementine smiled and hid behind Lee's leg shyly.

"We shouldn't be out in the open like this," Chet continued, getting up.

"How about you help us clear the way and we'll take you and your daughter out of here, and down to my family's farm?" Shawn suggested. "It should be safer there."

"I'm not her dad. I'm..." Lee seemed to think about it. "...just some guy."

"Some guy?"

"Yeah."

"She's alone?"

Clem looked down, not really liking being talked about by someone she didn't know.

Shawn ignored it. "Let's get going. Staying put for too long is a mistake."

Lee looked down at Clementine. "What do you wanna do?"

The little girl shook her head and turned away. "I..." She was interrupted by the familiar moans.

"Them monsters' comin'! WE GOTTA GO!" Chet cried. He went to the other truck, while Shawn started pushing on his.

"Lee, quick! Let's go!"

Lee walked over to help Shawn push the truck, while Clementine looked around. She then decided that she'd better help, and ran between Lee and Shawn to help them push the truck. Just in time, they moved the truck and began running.

"Get in!" Shawn yelled.

Clementine, Lee, and Shawn climbed into the truck, while Chet scrambled into the back. Shawn stepped on the gas, and off they drove.

"For 'just some guy,' it seems like you've saved a bunch of lives today," Shawn informed Lee.

Clementine looked back, watching her house - and the dead things - get smaller in sight, until eventually it all disappeared. She turned around and looked at the road, wondering just how far away she was going.

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**There's Chapter 2! Sorry if it didn't seem like too much of Clem's point of view, but the next chapter will, I promise. Please keep reviewing and I'll get the next chapter up ASAP! :)**


	3. Hershel's Farm

**Thank you to seniorcopycat for reviewing again! :) On with the story!**

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The drive took nearly an hour and a half, and by the time the four people reached the Greene family farm, it was night time.

Clementine and Lee looked at each other and smiled. The truck drove past a corn field and eventually stopped in front of a white two-story house with a red barn a few hundred yard away.

They all exited the truck, and Chet turned to Shawn.

"Hey, Shawn. I'ma run on home, my mama's gonna be in a snit."

"No sweat, man. I'll catch you tomorrow night," Shawn said.

"It was nice to meet ya both," Chet turned to Lee and Clementine, and Lee waved as Chet turned to head for home.

Clementine held Lee's hand, and both heard a door open. An older man, presumably Shawn's father, stepped out with a relieved look on his face.

"Thank God you're okay," he said.

"I wouldn't have made it back without Chet," Shawn told his father.

"Well, I'm glad you took him with you, then," the old man replied. He turned and saw Lee and Clementine approaching him. "You've brought a couple guests." He put his hands on his hips.

"Your boy is a lifesaver," Lee commented gratefully.

"Glad he could be of help to somebody," Shawn's father nodded. "So it's just you and your daughter, then."

"Oh, not his daughter," Shawn corrected. "He's...well, just some guy who found her alone."

The old man knelt down to Clementine's level. "Honey, do you know this man?"

Clem looked up at Lee, and decided to give him the best answer. "Yes."

"Okay," he replied, getting up. "Looks like you hurt your leg pretty bad there."

"Yeah, it's not doing so good," Lee agreed.

"I can help you out. Shawn, go on inside and check on your sister. You, take a seat up on the porch and I'll go see what I have."

Lee obeyed, and Clem walked up the porch stairs and stood at the top. Shawn's father came back out and glanced at the little girl before turning his attention back to Lee, squatting down to tend to his injured leg.

"Let's have a look," he instructed. "...Yeah, this is swollen to hell."

"It _hurts_ like hell," Lee nodded.

"I'll bet it does. What did you say your name was?"

"It's Lee."

"Nice to meet you, Lee. I'm Hershel Greene," the old man, Hershel, replied. He wrapped Lee's leg in gauze and continued. "So, how did this happen?"

"Car accident."

"And where were you headed, before the car accident?"

"I was getting out of Atlanta," Lee told him what was most likely the truth.

"The news says stay," Hershel informed him.

"Yeah, well, that's a mistake. We hit a guy, one of those things you've been hearing about, on the road."

Clementine was listening intently, cringing slightly when she heard that. No one seemed to notice.

"Who were you with, the girl?" Hershel asked.

"I was with a police officer," Lee responded. "He was giving me a ride."

"Awful nice of him," Hershel made note of that.

"I'm an awful nice guy," Lee joked.

Hershel changed the subject. "House is full up with mine. We've got another displaced family of three sleeping in the barn. You and your daughter are welcome to rest there, when we're done here."

Clem was grateful for this, at least she didn't have to ask if she had to go home. Yet she was still wondering about her parents.

That was when Hershel turned to her. "I didn't catch your name, darlin'."

Clementine glanced away, but replied anyway. "Clem...Clementine."

"Can't imagine what you've been through, Clementine."

"I'm looking after her until we find her parents," Lee spoke up.

Shawn walked back out. "Hey Dad, so I'm thinking, first thing tomorrow, we gotta reinforce the fence around the farm."

"That doesn't seem necessary," Hershel replied nonchalantly, tending to Lee's leg again.

"I don't know what you saw on TV, or heard on the radio," Shawn shook his head, "but there's some serious..._shit_ hitting the fan." At this, Clementine opened her mouth, slightly surprised at the swearing. Shawn continued, "I don't think anyone knows how big it is yet."

"Your son's right, you're gonna want to fortify this place," Lee agreed.

"Stuff like that doesn't happen around here, Shawn," Hershel commented to his son. Clearly, not much, if anything, had happened on the farm.

"Dad, I'm serious!" Shawn cried. "Lee, come on, tell him what you saw out there, man."

Lee paused, but then spoke up. "I got chased by a couple of dead people."

"Well, do what you think you should," Hershel shrugged it off. "We've got enough chores as it is."

"Lee and those folks can help out in the morning," Shawn persisted. "We've gotta do it, really."

"I already said okay." Hershel turned back to Lee. "Well, I'm all done here. It should start to feel better tomorrow."

"Thanks," said Lee.

"If your leg gets hot, or the swelling doesn't go down, you're probably dealing with an infection."

"What do we do then?"

"We'll probably just have to shoot you," Hershel replied.

Clementine looked a little scared, not realizing that he was only joking. _No, please, you can't!_ she thought. Lee looked slightly frightened himself.

"We'll clean it, redress it, and you'll be fine."

At this, Clem was relieved, but she gave him a strange look and shook her head anyway.

"Okay, that'd be preferable," Lee nodded.

"There's blankets and such in the barn," Hershel pointed out. "We'll be seeing you bright and early. Come tomorrow, which way do you think you're headed?"

"Towards Macon, I suppose."

Hershel nodded, and turned to smile at Clementine before heading back inside. Lee stood up. "All right, then."

"I'm a little tired, Lee," Clem spoke up, walking up and taking his hand. "Can we go to the barn?"

Lee gave her a smile. "Sure, Clementine."

The two arrived in the barn, and found a couple of available sleeping bags and pillows. Clementine sniffed the air, disgusted.

"It smells like..." she trailed off.

Lee smirked. "You know..."

"Doo-dee."

There was a pause. "I miss my mom and dad," Clementine whispered sadly.

"I bet, Clem."

"How far is Savannah?"

"Pretty far."

"Oh. Okay..." The eight-year-old closed her eyes, and began to drift off to sleep.

In the morning, she woke up to approaching footsteps. She looked up to see a man in his forties with a mustache looming over them, and got up. She looked down to see that Lee was still asleep.

The mustached man smiled lightly at her, and then turned to Lee. "Hey, get up."

Lee woke up and yawned, standing up.

"I'm itchy," Clementine commented, scratching her arms.

"Well, you slept in a barn, little lady," the man told her. "Lucky you don't have spiders in your hair."

Clem gasped and looked up, she did _not_ like spiders.

"But I bet your _daddy_ scared them all away, huh?"

"I'm...not her dad," said Lee. "Name's Lee,"

"I'm Kenny," the mustached man replied.

Just then, a boy of about ten appeared at the doorway. "Dad, we're gonna build a fence!" he yelled. "There's a tractor and everything!"

Kenny turned to Lee, clearly his son wore him out. "We better get going or we won't hear the end of it."

The three of them exited the barn, Clem holding Lee's hand.

"That's my boy, Ken Junior," Kenny introduced his son. "We call him Duck, though."

"Duck?" Lee asked. Clementine was wondering the same thing.

"Yeah, nothin' bothers him. Like water off a duck's back, y'know?"

"That's a valuable trait lately," Lee nodded.

"No kidding," Kenny replied. "But frankly, I think it's because he's dumb as a bag of hammers."

Clem couldn't help but smirk to herself.

"DAAAAD!" the boy, Duck, called again. He sort of, kind of reminded Clementine of some of the boys in her class at school.

"But, he makes up for it with enthusiasm," Kenny finished talking about his son.

The three approached Duck and a blonde-haired woman sitting on a haystack.

"The word is you were on your way to Macon," Kenny turned to Lee.

"My family is from there," Lee smiled.

"Well, Macon's on the way, and personally I'd appreciate the company of a guy who can knock a couple of heads together if he has to."

"I'll see what the girl would like," Lee responded.

"Ah, gotta consult the missus, I understand."

He turned to his family. "Honey, Duck, this is Lee, and uh, what's the girl's name?"

"Clementine," Lee answered. Clem hid behind his leg, she was a little shy around strangers.

"Clementine," Kenny finished.

"That is a very pretty name," the woman said to Clem.

"Thanks," the eight-year-old replied, smiling.

"Well, we should get to work," Shawn approached them. "We've all seen what those things can do out there, so the faster we get this fence up, the better."

"I wanna build a fence!" Duck shouted.

"Yeah? Well, I need a good foreman. You can sit on the tractor and yell at me when I take a water break."

"On the tractor? Cool!"

Yup, this boy was _just_ like the boy in Clementine's class.

"Duck and I will hop to it," said Shawn.

"I can keep an eye on your little girl here on the porch," the woman spoke up. "We can visit."

Clem nodded and took a seat next to Kenny's wife, and Lee and Kenny walked away.

"So, Clementine, right?" the woman asked. "My name is Katjaa, I'm Kenny's wife."

Clementine smiled. "I've never heard that name before, I like it," she commented.

"Thank you. How old are you? What grade are you in?"

"I'm eight," Clem replied. "I'm in first grade because I started kindergarten late, my parents put me in preschool until I was five."

"Oh, that's nice," said Katjaa. "Do you like first grade?"

"Yeah! My favorite part is arts and crafts, and recess," Clementine told her innocently. "Most of the work is easy, too." She then proceeded to tell Katjaa some of the things she did in arts and crafts, and some of the other stuff that she did in first grade.

After a few minutes, Lee returned. "Hey there, girls," he greeted. "You too actually look relaxed."

"I think we're doing just fine," said Katjaa. "Clementine was just telling me about first grade."

"Oh, uh, how is that?" Lee asked Clementine.

"It's easy," Clem said with a shrug.

"Well, yeah," Lee replied in a "duh" voice. "Sooo, you're good?"

"Anyway, it's almost like we didn't see people eating each other for the past three days," Katjaa replied. "It's peaceful here, no?"

"How did you handle getting through the city?" Lee inquired.

"Kenny just...drove. We passed so many people that needed help and...we just...passed people. Over some...just...just..." Katjaa turned away sadly, not wanting to continue. Clementine felt sorry for her.

"It's okay, it's fine," Lee reassured the woman. "You don't have to say anymore."

"I want to go home tomorrow, but even then I can't take away the things we - the things Duck - went through. Don't you want to go back to the moment before you knew about all of this?"

"Anybody in their right mind would," said Lee. "Families and barbecues and beers with good friends."

That made Clementine think about the family reunions her family used to host during the summer. Her father would grill out hamburgers and hot dogs and have beers with Clem's two uncles. It made her mother shake her head every time.

"All of those things," said Katjaa.

"Those are the things we live for, right? With those gone, what's the point?"

Lee decided to change the subject. "So, uhhh, what do you do when corpses aren't walking around?" he joked.

Clementine and Lee learned that Katjaa was a veterinarian in Fort Lauderdale, where she, Duck, and Kenny lived. Clem also learned that Lee used to be a history professor up at the University of Georgia, but was let go.

"That's too bad," Katjaa commented. "Well, I hear people always clamor back to college after a big disaster. People don't want to die ignorant, I guess."

"Back in a bit," Lee turned around.

"Okay, Lee."

So Clem and Katjaa continued their talk and talked about some other things. Soon, Katjaa went into the house, and Clementine went to see what Shawn and Duck were up to. She watched them, until Duck spoke up.

"Hey, I wonder what this button does..." he spoke up, pressing it.

Unfortunately, the tractor rolled forward before Duck could stop it, and it ran over Shawn's leg. Shawn let out a loud scream.

The nearby walkers were apparently attracted to the noise, and tried to get through the fence. Clementine could only stand there, frightened. She jumped when one of them grabbed Duck's shoulders and tried to bite him, causing the older boy to start screaming as well.

Lee turned from Shawn to Duck, and after a few seconds, scrambled to Shawn's side, trying to free him. He picked up a board, and at that moment Kenny ran and collected Duck in his arms.

"I got you," he told his son.

"KENNY! HELP LEE!" Shawn yelled.

Kenny turned back around with a look of shock and fear, and ran away, carrying Duck.

"KENNY!"

Lee tried to pull Shawn, but the board came down, and the walkers above him chomped into his neck, causing Clementine to gasp. She almost screamed, but didn't want to attract any more noise than there already was. She whimpered, shaking.

Hershel ran up and immediately shot the two walkers, and the third one approaching.

"I'm okay, Pop, I'm okay," Shawn spoke hoarsely, his father looming over him.

"I can fix you up, don't worry, I'll stitch you up," Hershel comforted him.

"It almost...almost got me man," Shawn continued. "Lee tried to save me."

Hershel looked at Lee, and then back at his son. "I know, son."

"I..." Shawn tried to gasp out, but he died right there and then. Clementine bit her lip, she couldn't believe what she was seeing, but approached forward with Kenny's family.

"Kids, stay back," Katjaa ordered her and Duck gently.

Hershel got up. "Get out. GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"

"I'm sorry," Kenny said, looking at the ground remorsefully.

"SORRY?" Hershel exploded._ "Your_ son is alive, you don't _get_ to be sorry!" He turned to Lee. "You tried to help him, but this piece of_ shit_ let him die!"

"You can't blame Kenny," Lee replied.

"The hell I can't! You watch your back. Wait until it's your daughter and you need his help."

He turned around. "Please...just go. Get out and NEVER come back!"

Lee, Clementine, Kenny, and Katjaa all looked at each other.

"You've got that ride to Macon if you want it," Kenny commented. He and his family walked to the truck.

"Come on, Clem, we'd better go," Lee said, taking her hand.

"Okay," the young girl nodded.

The two walked to the truck, with Lee in the passenger seat and Clementine in the back with Duck and Katjaa.

**\\\\**

**There's Chapter 3. Should I shorten the chapters or keep them like this? Also, I'm sorry if I fucked up with not getting it in Clem's POV again. X( But please, please leave a review? They make my day!**

**Also, I have yet to play Amid The Ruins, I'll be doing that tomorrow. :D**


	4. The Drugstore, Part 1

**I just realized that I forgot to put the disclaimer for the whole story, whoops!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, all rights belong to Telltale Games! If I owned it no one I love would die. :P**

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There was very little, almost no conversation during the drive to Macon. Duck would pipe up from time to time, once asking about Shawn and if he'd somehow made it, but not much else.

Around late afternoon, the gas ended up running out in front of a drugstore.

"Well, this is as far as we're going," Kenny announced.

"Then it's far enough," Lee replied, getting out of the car.

He helped Clementine out of the vehicle, and the five walked a little ways. Clementine noticed Lee looking at the drugstore a bit sadly, she wondered why. The silence was broken by, you guessed it, Duck.

"Look!" he cried. He was pointing to a car.

Kenny thought he saw someone by the car, and called out to them. "Hey there, you friendly? Truck's run out of gas!"

The "people looked up, and they realized that it was two zombies, eating what was possibly a dead body. "FUCK!" In less than a minute, they were all surrounded by them.

"WE'RE TRAPPED!" Katjaa yelled.

"AH! AHHH! HELP!" Duck screamed. A walker fell on top of him, but before it could take a chomp, it was shot dead. A woman with shoulder-length brown hair was firing away, saving Duck.

"RUN!" an Asian man in a pizza delivery cap yelled. Everyone ran towards the drugstore, Clementine holding Lee's hand. The woman, Carley, fired two more shots before following behind. The man closed the gate and locked it tight.

"We can't take risks like this!" another woman, Lilly Caul, informed the two.

"And we can't just let people die, either!" Carley argued.

"When I say 'that door stays shut no matter what,' I fucking _mean_ it! We don't know who these people are, they could be dangerous!"

"We have kids with us!" Lee spoke slightly above a whisper.

"I see _one_ little girl," an older man named Larry glared at him.

Clementine, a little scared, backed away and held Lee's hand. She hadn't gone to the bathroom since that morning before the incident, and she _really_ needed to go now.

"What is it?" he asked a little harshly.

"I...I have to pee," she told him, a little overwhelmed by his tone.

"In a minute, Clem!" Lee scolded. Clementine let go of his hand and looked down. She decided to go herself, and look for the ladies' restroom. She also wanted to try and listen in on what the adults were saying.

"They've got kids, Lilly!" the man in the cap, Glenn, tried to step in.

"Those things outside don't care," Lilly replied.

"Maybe you should go join 'em, then, you'll have something in common!" Kenny retorted.

Clementine didn't hear the rest, but realized that the bathroom door was locked. However, she caught up again when Larry spoke up.

"Ho-ly shit, son of a bitch, one of them is bitten!"

"He wasn't bitten!" Lee disagreed. Clem agreed with him, she_ saw_ the walker die right before it could bite Duck. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again. She didn't want to get involved, or into any trouble.

"Hell he wasn't! We have to end this, now."

"Over my dead body," Kenny growled.

Katjaa was yelling that Duck wasn't bitten, and Larry explained how they would all end up bitten after "letting someone with a bite stay." Clementine was watching everything from behind a shelf.

"Dad, he's just a boy!" Lilly tried to reason.

"I'll handle this, Lilly," her father snarled.

"But your heart, Dad! You need to calm down."

"Lee, what do we do about this guy?" Kenny asked.

Lee turned and glared at Larry. "We kick his ass!"

"That's what I was thinking."

"Everyone just_ chill the fuck out!"_ Carley yelled.

"Nobody is doing _anything,"_ Lilly hissed at her.

Clementine didn't want to listen anymore, she wanted to try and get the bathroom door open. She put her ear to the door and heard a noise. Was someone walking around in there? She decided to tell Lee.

"Lee!"

"Yeah?" he called.

"There's someone in there!"

"It's just locked," he assured her, not really listening. "Key's behind the counter. Probably."

Clementine walked behind the counter and retrieved the key while the adults continued to argue over Duck.

"The first thing he'll do is sink his teeth into his mom's face," the old man was still trying to get Duck thrown out. "Then, once she's dead, he'll probably pounce on your little girl!" Clem could tell he was talking to Lee.

The eight-year-old let out a slight gasp, but tried to think nothing of it. She walked over to the bathroom and unlocked it.

One of those things from outside immediately started roaming towards her the moment she opened the door, and she screamed. Clementine started backing away, trying to avoid the undead body.

"JESUS!" Larry screamed.

"CLEMENTINE!" Lee cried. He ran and pushed past Lilly, but tripped and fell. He seemed to do that a lot lately.

Clementine backed away and turned to Lee, who got up and continued running. The walker grabbed her legs, but Lee pulled it off.

"Get away from her, you son of a bitch!"

The walker then tried to bite Lee, who tried to pry it off. Clementine was about to run and help out, but then the walker was shot dead. Lee got up and panted, glad that he was alive. "Man..."

They both turned, and who had saved them (again) was Carley, holding her prided Glock 17. She lowered her gun.

"You okay?" she asked Lee.

"Just great, thanks."

Clementine was glad that Lee had protected her, she would never forget that. But some banging sounds were heard then, and Glenn spoke up. "Uhh, guys?"

Everyone rushed to hiding places, Clementine clinging to Lee like a lifeline.

"They're gonna get in!" Larry piped up.

"Shut. Up," Kenny snarled.

Lee frowned. "Is that the military?"

"I don't know," Lilly whispered.

"Thank God for whatever it is," the capped man added.

"We almost died because of this _bitch_ and her itchy trigger-finger!" Larry cried, getting up to approach the brown-haired woman in the skirt. "That was_ stupid!_ That was...AHHH!" He interrupted himself, clutching his heart.

"DAD!" Lilly hollered, rushing to his aid as he fell.

"What's wrong with him?" Lee asked, concerned.

"It's his heart."

"Ugh...my pills," Larry moaned.

"Uh, um, nitroglycerin pills?" Katjaa inquired.

_Nitro...what pills?_ Clementine thought, now standing beside Lee.

"Yes! We're out!" Lilly replied. "We've been trying to get into the pharmacy since we got here!" She turned to face Lee. "Please, try to get in there! Behind the counter, where the pills are!"

"We'll get in there somehow," Lee reassured her.

"Thank you so much! We need nitroglycerin pills. Please get in there. I'll keep an eye on my dad."

"Everyone else should get comfy and look for anything useful," Kenny added. "We could be in here awhile."

At that, Clementine walked over near the check-out counter and sat down in a chair. Lee was talking to Glenn, and Clem was surprised when he gave him her other walkie-talkie.

"Clementine's got the other one," Lee informed Glenn. "Check in with her and get back here as soon as you can."

"Cool," said Glenn.

"And you, what's your name?" Kenny turned to Lilly.

"It's Lilly. My dad's Larry," the woman replied.

Kenny was arranging tasks for the adults, and they all learned that the other man in the green shirt was named Doug, as well as the woman in white named Carley. Lee was going to check around for useful things.

Things were mostly quiet, and Clem listened in when Lee and Carley were talking. She was starting to feel a bit hungry, though.

After a couple of minutes, Lee approached her, knelt down to her level.

"Hey there."

"Hi," she said.

"Uh, can I get you anything?"

"I'm okay." She thought about it. "Maybe I'm a little hungry."

"I'll see what I can find."

Lee got up, and Clementine watched as he roamed the shelves for a minute or two. He grabbed several items from them, and returned to her, handing her an energy bar that she would sometimes see her mother eat.

"It's not much, but here you go, Clem."

"Thank you," she took the food gratefully.

There was a pause. "So, uh..."

"Are you okay?" Clementine asked.

"What? Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Lee stuttered. "I'm just, uhh, I'm good."

"That's good," she told him awkwardly.

"Yeah, I think so. Being good is good, despite the circumstances."

"Yup."

"Any word from Glenn?" Lee wanted to know.

"Nothing," the eight-year-old answered, shaking her head. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. You're doing a good job. Well, sit tight."

"Okay," she said with a smile.

Lee got up, and Clem watched as he went over to chat with Lilly. She would glance at them once in a while, and turned away when she realized that they were talking about her. Although she couldn't help but smile when Lilly said that she was lucky to have Lee.

They stopped talking, and Lee approached the office door. Clementine decided to get up and check it out with him. She didn't think he would mind.

There was an air mattress with a blanket and pools of blood, along with a broken picture. Never before had Clem seen anything so desolate. Lee walked over to the photo and picked it up, smiling at it at first, but then looked sad.

Clem looked up and saw Carley entering the office. She spoke up when Lee tore the photo.

"Find anything?"

Lee looked down. "It's a photo of the family that owned the place. It might help us track down the keys to the office."

"I know who you are," Carley changed the subject. "You're Lee Everett. You're a professor at Athens who killed a state senator who was sleeping with your wife."

Clementine's ears rang. What did she just say?

"This is your parents' store," Carley continued. "Folks around town know the owner's son got himself a life sentence, but I'm a reporter for WABE in Atlanta. I paid attention to that trial. Maybe you're a murderer, but I don't really care. Frankly, that's a skill that might come in handy."

"Hmmph," was Lee's only answer.

"Did you tell anyone out there who you were, or that you were tied to this place?"

"No. I've been sticking to first names for a reason."

Clementine was surprised. Did Lee really kill someone? She hadn't heard anything about him when her parents watched the news.

"You seem like an okay guy, and the last thing we need is drama out there. You've got this little girl to take care of, and...look, don't make me wrong on this."

The eight-year-old turned around and faced the wall, not knowing what to think. She really liked Lee, she didn't want him to go to any jail or other bad place if all of this were to eventually fade away.

Carley left soon after, and Lee commented to no one in particular that his parents had probably come in here to survive, but with no luck.

Lee moved the pallet out of the way, and Clementine's attention was drawn to a sort of cane that had fallen.

"What's that?" she asked curiously.

"This was my dad's cane. He'd zip around here on it from time to time."

"Was he sick?"

"Nah, he was okay. I actually saw him whoop shoplifters with it. This cane's protected this place better than any guard dog ever could." He walked over to put the cane down. "Plus, he knew how to make it look cool. Like you, with your hat."

Clementine smiled brightly. "My dad gave it to me!"

"See, dads are smart like that."

She nodded slightly in agreement and went back to her place by the wall. Lee looked around, and soon walked over to her.

"Everyone out there seem alright to you?"

"Yeah, well, maybe not the sick guy." Clem wasn't sure what to think about Larry, but she kind of liked Lilly.

"We'll keep an eye on him," Lee agreed.

"There was that thing in the bathroom, it tried to get me," Clem pointed out.

"I know."

"But you stopped it!"

"Yeah, I did." Lee smiled.

"Can you do that...more?" Clementine wanted to stick with Lee if her parents weren't found soon, wanted him to protect her.

"Well, I'm not gonna go looking for them."

"I mean, get the dangerous ones."

"I'm going to try."

"Good."

"...Any word from Glenn?"

"Not in a little while."

Lee nodded. "I'm going to keep looking around."

"Okay."

The man went over to the table blocking the pharmacy door. Clementine walked over to help him, she always liked helping her mom and dad move challenging items.

"Better get this door clear, huh?"

"Can I help?" Clementine asked hopefully, a smile on her face.

"Sure."

They positioned themselves, and got ready. "Here we go. Watch your fingers in the drawers."

The two of them moved it a bit, and Lee talked again. "How are you doing?"

"Yeah, it's not that heavy," Clementine decided. She had helped her parents move heavier things.

"How about with everything outside?"

"It's not good."

"No, it's not."

"But I think it'll be okay," Clem flashed yet another charming smile. She was very hopeful that things would all be back to normal soon.

After moving the table again, she asked a question that was on her mind. "Do you have kids?"

"No," Lee answered dully.

"You don't have a family?"

"...What do your parents do?"

"My mom is a doctor, and my dad is an engineer." Clementine was proud of this. Although she had to have a baby-sitter a lot, she was glad that her parents had good jobs and were able to support her.

"Those are good jobs."

"What's your job?" Clem asked, hoping to make it clear.

"I, uh, teach history and writing and things like that."

"Like, uh, social studies?" She remembered her favorite subject in school.

"Yeah, like that."

Clementine pointed something out. "You didn't answer my question!"

"...Alright, a little further."

After moving the table once more, Clem asked another question. "Why don't you want to talk about your family. Do they, like, hate you?"

"I hope not. It's just complicated."

"Oh."

Lee knelt down to her level. "Look, my family's gone and I just wish things would've been different."

"Yeah."

A pause. "I got into some trouble, and then I didn't talk to them for a while. This used to be their store, but let's just keep that between you and me, okay?"

"Okay. Because of the trouble?"

"Yeah, that's right. Now, let's get this done."

They moved it for the final time, and then Clementine felt a sharp pain on her finger. "OWW!" she yelped. She looked at her finger, which started bleeding.

"Are you okay?" Lee inquired.

"I hurt my finger."

"Is it bleeding?"

"A little."

Lee lifted Clem up onto the table. "I'll find you a bandage."

The little girl watched as Lee walked over to the first-aid kit, and got out a bandage.

"Lee?" Clementine asked.

"Yeah?"

"What if my parents come home and I'm not there?"

"They'll, uh, track us down. Don't worry," Lee said, although his face looked a little off.

"Yeah, okay. We should keep a lookout. I've got my walkie-talkie in case they try that way."

"Stay close to me until then, okay?"

Clem nodded. Lee walked closer to her and knelt down, pulling her hand close.

"Let's have a look at that finger." He put his thumb on it. "Ow."

"It hurt," Clem pointed out.

"Let's see if we can do something about it," Lee gave her a smile. "Let's get this cut covered up."

"Yes, please," Clementine replied gratefully.

He took out that band-aid and wrapped it around her injured finger. Clementine cringed at the slight pain, but Lee fixed it. He gave her a smile and walked over to the exit door, turning back to her.

"Want to head back into the drugstore with me?"

Clementine got down and walked up to him. "Okay...Lee?"

"Yeah?"

"You're not bad, right?"

"I, uh...why are you asking me that?" Lee wondered.

"That lady said you killed someone. Was that because it was one of those things trying to eat you?" Clementine wondered if Lee had killed one of those monsters before the event had become a well-known thing.

"It's complicated," Lee deadpanned.

"Was he...bad?"

"Yeah, he was."

There was no more after that. Lee opened the door, and the two of them re-entered the drugstore.

**\\\\**

**Okay, so there's Part 1 of 2 of the drugstore. I hope this got to Clem's point of view a bit better. I also played Amid The Ruins, which is why I didn't update yesterday. The episode killed me by the way. :( Please, please review? :)**


	5. The Drugstore, Part 2: End Of Episode 1

**Thank you to TWDLover for reviewing, and also for their idea about how Lee's torn photo got to be with Clem. :) This will be the last chapter of Episode 1.**

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Clementine walked back to her seat in front of the counter, still waiting on a word from Glenn. She watched as Lee went over to talk to Kenny and his family, giving Kenny another energy bar for Duck, which he appreciated.

Carley, who was trying to get a radio fixed, looked up when Lee walked over to her.

"This battery should fit the radio," the man held the item out.

"Great, thanks," said Carley.

"And here's another one," Lee handed the second battery over.

"Should be able to get it to work now." Carley took the batteries and placed them in the radio. Clementine looked back, hoping that the radio would work. It had been several days since there had been any power where she had been.

A noise was heard coming from the walkie-talkie, and Clem picked it up, listening intently.

"Hey there, this is Glenn and uh, I'm kind of in a jam here," Glenn was saying. "Uh, little girl, if you're there, can you put your daddy on the phone, or on the talkie, or whatever?" Lee walked over, and Clementine handed him the radio.

"This is Lee, what's up?"

"So...I'm down at that motor inn, and, well, I-I'm stuck," Glenn replied.

"Stuck?" Lee wondered.

"Yeah, I, uh, saw a chance to get some supplies for the group and a bunch of the roaming ones got the jump on me. I'm hiding over here, but they won't leave."

"What's up?" Kenny asked.

"Glenn's trapped down at the motor inn," Lee explained. He spoke into the walkie-talkie. "Hey, Glenn, we're gonna talk it over and send a group to come get you, all right?"

"Phew, awesome," Glenn sounded relieved. "I'll sit tight until then."

"Sounds good." He looked at Clementine. "I'm going to hold onto this until we get Glenn back, okay? I'll take good care of it."

Clementine was unsure, but Kenny spoke up again before she could reply.

"What do you think?"

"I think Doug's not great around zombies, and you've got your family here," Lee told him. "I'll take Carley and her dead-eye down to the motor inn, get Glenn, and get back here as fast as I can."

"If that's what you want to do..."

"Somebody's got to."

"Yeah, I'm in," Carley walked over to them.

"Good, it doesn't sound too bad there right now," Lee guessed.

"Let me know as soon as you want to head out," the reporter instructed. "I could use a jog."

They all went back to their original positions. Carley thought that the radio still wasn't working, and it turned out that the batteries were placed wrongly. Clem could relate to this, since she had a bit of trouble with batteries herself. Of course she wouldn't tell this to anyone.

_"As the unknown infection continues to spread-"_ the man on the now-fixed radio began talking.

"You fixed it!" Carley exclaimed.

_"-the death toll continues to skyrocket. WABE urges you to stay indoors, and avoid any contact with individuals you suspect may have been exposed."_

"The station is okay!"

_"Uh, my producer is telling me we have to get off the air now,"_ the man on the radio continued. Unknown noises could be heard in the background.

"Steve..." Carley muttered sadly.

_"WABE wishes you and your loved ones the strength to endure through this crisis..."_ The radio started to go dead. _"God bless you all. God bless the United States of Amer-"_ And with that, the radio shut off.

Clementine turned around and stared at the floor. Lee was concerned about Carley, asking if she was alright. She sounded pretty upset. Lee briefly went outside with Doug to have a look around, then came back.

"You ready to head out?" he asked Carley.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah."

Lee walked over and knelt down to Clementine's level. "I have to go with Carley to get Glenn, I won't be gone too long. Will you be okay here?"

"Uh-huh," Clem nodded.

"Okay," Lee got up and turned around.

"Lee?" the little girl called him.

He turned around. "Yeah?"

"Be careful."

Lee gave her a smile. "I'll be alright."

Clementine watched Lee and Carley leave through the office building. The building was mostly quiet except for some words exchanged by Kenny and Katjaa, or Larry and Lilly. She decided not to bother anyone.

She was wondering how Lee was doing, and wished that she and him had the walkie-talkies so that they could check up on each other, but after awhile decided that it probably wasn't a good idea.

Clem heard footsteps and turned around. Doug was approaching her, and knelt down beside her. He had a cup of water in his hand.

"Uh, hey," he greeted awkwardly. He probably wasn't too good at talking to kids. "Clementine, right? My name's Doug."

"Hi," Clem replied with a small smile.

"I thought you might be thirsty, so here you go," Doug handed her the cup. Clem looked unsure, but Doug reassured her that it was okay. The little girl took the cup gratefully and took a drink. She was pretty thirsty.

"Thank you," she said.

"So...do you need anything else?" he asked. "I...I know that Lee guy gave you some food earlier."

"No, I'm good," Clementine shook her head.

"Okay," Doug nodded, and walked away to get some water for Duck and go back to his spot by the outside door.

Clementine drank the rest of her water in a few minutes, wiped her lip, and threw the paper cup away in the trash bin nearby. She sat back down at her seat and waited for Lee's (hopefully safe) return.

A little more time passed, and Lee, Carley, and Glenn walked in, all unscathed.

Kenny walked up to them. "Everyone alright?"

"Yeah," Lee answered. "We had some close calls, but...Glenn is fine and...yeah, we're okay."

Clem smiled lightly, relieved.

"I got a few cans of gas for your pickup in the trunk of my car," Glenn added.

"Good to hear it," said Kenny.

"And things back here?" Carley wanted to know.

"Quiet. Our 'friend' is still in and out over there. He won't survive anymore stress."

"The next order of business is getting those pills out of the pharmacy," Lee spoke up.

Kenny nodded once and went back over to his family. Lee walked around again, and Clem looked up when she saw him walking towards her.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Mm-hm," she nodded.

Lee, satisfied with her answer, got up and went over to talk to Glenn. Clementine wondered when she was going to get her walkie-talkie back, hoping that it would be soon. All she had to do was sit and wait patiently.

Doug and Lee walked outside, and soon everyone could hear glass shattering from across the street, and the descending sounds of moaning.

"Good, that should distract them," Clementine heard Lilly comment. The older woman was smiling.

It wasn't long until thee zombies could be heard coming back, and Lee and Doug were running inside, Doug slamming the door.

"Man, that was close," Doug panted, his back to the door.

"But we did it, that's all that matters," Lee replied. He looked sad about something. Did he have to kill an undead family member or something?

He walked over to Lilly. "I've got the keys."

"Great! God, you're amazing!" Lilly cried as she stood up. "Let's get in there."

Lee and Lilly walked into the office, and the door to the pharmacy had been opened. Clementine jumped when she (and everyone else) heard a loud ringing noise. The eight-year-old felt like something bad was going to happen if Lee didn't hurry.

Everyone began hurrying around, and Clem didn't know what to do.

"Duck, come on baby, time to go," Katjaa told her son.

"I'm gonna get the truck pulled up 'round back!" Kenny called.

"Do it fast, I've gotta get my dad outta here!" Lilly cried.

"Well, I don't plan on dilly-dallying! Honey, take Duck into the office and barricade the living hell out of the door behind me. Glenn, when you hear me honking in the alley, start getting people out of here!"

"Lee, what's going on?" Clementine asked as Lee ran to her.

"It's going to be okay, it'll be fine," Lee tried to reassure her.

"Doug, Carley, and Lee, you guys make sure our defenses stay up till then!" Kenny yelled. "And Lee, I better take that axe in case I run into any of them on the way to my truck!"

Lee got up and threw him the axe. "Here you go!"

"Guys, that door's not locked anymore!" Glenn pointed out.

"Shit!" Kenny swore. "You three, get on it! I'll get back as fast as I can!"

"Stay away from the windows!" Lee instructed carefully, running over to help.

"Glenn, we need your help, please hurry!" Katjaa called. Glenn ran to help, and Lee helped barricade the doors. Clementine got up and ran towards the middle, not knowing what to do since she hadn't been instructed to do anything.

Doug told Lee that he was a great guy, and Lee assured him that they would make it through this.

"Doug, if we don't make it through this, you should know-" Carley began, but was interrupted by the door almost opening. Lee took charge and began pushing the door shut, eventually succeeding.

Unfortunately, the walkers were able to get in through the walls, knocking a shelf down. Carley got out her gun and began shooting the ones that were going near Doug. Clementine was breathing hard, she was truly afraid.

"Clementine! Can you look for something to stick in between the handles?" Lee asked. "Something real strong okay?"

"Okay!" Clem replied, running off to look for something.

"CLEMENTINE! Did you find anything!" Lee called after a few moments.

"Nothing!...Oh, wait!" the eight-year-old suddenly remembered Lee's father's cane, running to the office to get it. Lilly tried to grab her and hold her back, but Clem ran out with the cane, Lilly barely missing her.

"I found something!" she cried, running up to Lee. She held out the cane, and he took it from her.

Lee stuck the cane between the door handles, able to shut it.

"AHHH! GET OFF, GET OFF!" Doug was screaming. A few walkers had grabbed him, trapped him to the wall.

"Shit! I'm out, I'm out!" Carley yelled. A walker was grabbing hold of her ankle. Her ammo had run out, and she couldn't break free. "LEE! Help! Ammo, in my purse!"

Clementine could only stand there, her feet unable to move. She stood frozen in place, her eyes darting around Doug and Carley.

The eight-year-old watched as Lee darted over to Carley's side, going into her purse and throwing her the ammo. Carley put the ammo in her gun and shot the walker approaching her just in time, right as it was about to chomp into her. She also shot the walker that was clutching her ankle.

"Ah, no! Get 'em off me!" Doug cried. But before Lee could save him, the walkers were able to grab him and pulled him through the walls, eating him alive. Clementine screamed. Carley put a hand to her mouth, feeling like she was about to throw up.

"Oh my God..." she muttered, then began shooting more walkers.

Kenny opened the door. "LET'S GO!" he yelled.

Carley ran, and Clementine was about to follow her when yet another walker grabbed her foot. She screamed, but Lee killed it right when it was about to bite her. The little girl got up and ran to where Larry was opening the door for her.

Lee was about to go through, but Larry stopped him. "You're not coming with us, you son of a bitch!"

Larry punched him square in the face, causing him to fall.

"NO!" Clementine screamed, but Larry grabbed her hand and pulled her away before she could do anything. She saw Kenny glare at Larry and ran back to get Lee. She refused to get into Kenny's truck until she saw that Lee was safe, and he was.

Kenny and Lee scrambled into the truck, and Kenny floored it behind Glenn's car, where Carley, Lilly, and Larry were riding.

The drive was only about ten minutes this time, and Clem was relieved that everyone else had gotten to the Travelier Motel safely.

She watched in disgust as Lilly piled some dead walkers on top of one another. Not wanting to see anymore, she walked over to go sit on the RV, but Duck chose that moment when he wanted to talk to her.

How could he be so happy after all that had just happened at the drugstore?

"Oh, man, Clementine!" Duck called her. "It was so cool when my dad and Lee were killing all those things-"

He then randomly began telling a story about how Kenny had once caught a huge shark on a boat, and something else about dinosaurs, but Clem wasn't really listening, she just wanted some time to herself, and Duck clearly wasn't respecting that.

She jumped when she heard some gunshots and screams, she hoped that she wouldn't have to get used to something like this.

Duck was still blabbering on and on when Lee walked up to them. "Hey Duck, you wanna cool it for a minute?"

"Okay, sorry," the ten-year-old apologized, walking about.

_Thank you, Lee,_ Clementine thought.

Lee knelt down to her level. "I'm sorry there's, uh, not a lot of kids here."

"No, it's not that," Clem assured him. "It's...I got grabbed again."

"I was there, though," Lee told her.

"I fell...and my walkie-talkie broke," Clementine whimpered. She didn't want to cry in front of Lee. "Glenn had the other one."

"Aww, I'm sorry."

"Thanks," she said sadly. "I know I need to be tough, but I'm just sad." She was still holding back tears. "I know it doesn't make any sense, but it's how I used to talk to my mom and dad, and now they're gone. It's gone."

What if she never got the chance to see her parents again? Clementine liked Lee, but she_ really_ missed them.

"Maybe we can find you another one," Lee suggested.

"I'll just keep this one, I guess."

"Lee, come here for a second," Larry beckoned him over.

"Let me go deal with this," Lee got up.

...Too bad Duck came back then. "Oh, man, Clementine! Another thing..."

But she still didn't want to listen. She watched Larry scold Lee about something, but she didn't really feel like getting involved, especially when the old man pointed at her. Lee seemed to be glad to get away from him.

The power soon went out, shutting Duck up. She looked around, all was dark and barely a thing could be seen.

"Hey, who turned out the lights?" Duck called.

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**So there's the end of Episode 1, A New Day. I might have a chapter or something between Episodes 1 and 2, what do you think? Please leave a review telling me! Also, I hope I kept Doug in character alright, I can see him wanting to check on Clem.**

**My Episode Choices: **

_**Told Hershel the truth**_

_**Saved Shawn**_

_**Sided with Kenny**_

_**Refused to give Irene the gun**_

_**Saved Carley**_

**Again, please review and tell me what I should do!**


	6. Stars In The Sky

**This is kind of an "in-between" chapter between episodes, something that I might be doing. These chapters will be a bit shorter than regular ones. Also, a big thank you to Assassin's Creed Master for reviewing all the chapters so far, I hope to see more of your story soon!**

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A week and a half had passed since the group had arrived at the motor inn. Clementine and Lee had bonded very much over this time, and were now thick as thieves. However, other members of the group had their...disagreements, to say the least. Take Kenny and Lilly, for example. They had begun arguing over many thing such as food and other arrangements.

Right now, Clementine and Duck were coloring with some crayons and paper that Carley had found for them in the RV that was parked there.

"Hey, Clementine!" Duck piped up. "Did I tell you about the time my dad took me on his boat, and I caught a dinosaur fish?"

"Duck, there's no such thing as a dinosaur fish," Carley chuckled from behind them. Usually she or Katjaa would watch over the kids.

"There is too!" Duck argued, but he was grinning widely, like always. "It was _this_ big, and-" Once again, he began telling the two females one of his "stories." Although he was annoying sometimes, Clementine almost felt like he was her big brother.

The boy was interrupted by the halt of a car that had run out of gas just outside the motor inn. Out stepped Lee, Kenny, and a strange man wearing glasses. Clem and Duck went to greet them, and Lilly followed, wanting to take charge again.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, what the_ fuck_ is this?" she demanded. "We have enough people here as it is!"

"Lilly, this is Mark," Lee introduced the man in the glasses, who gave an awkward wave. "He brought us all this food from the local commissary downtown, in exchange that we let him stay in our group with us."

Lilly said nothing, only went to the back of the trunk of the car. Much to her surprise, there was plenty of boxes of store food. "Holy shit..."

She walked back over and stood in front of Lee and Mark. "Fine, he can stay. But _only_ because he has food for everyone. One mishap and he goes, is that clear?" The brunette turned her full attention to Mark.

Mark nodded once. "Crystal."

"Can I help bring some boxes?" Clementine asked Lee.

Lee smiled down at her. "Sure, sweet pea." He had started calling her this recently for some reason, but Clem didn't mind. He handed her one of the smaller boxes. "Can you take this and put it by the RV?"

"Yeah!" Clementine nodded, and walked off. She came back a couple times, where Lee would give her a light box to carry.

It wasn't too long before they were done. "Why don't you go and play with Duck some more, Clem?" Lee suggested. "Kenny and I will take it from here."

"But I want to be with you," Clementine responded innocently. "Can I watch you? I can draw you some pictures!"

"Okay, but be careful and stay close."

Clem nodded and ran to get some crayons and paper. She returned and sat on the ground, looking up at Lee as he came to check on her briefly.

"You sure you'll be okay?" he inquired.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Really? Is that _all_ you've got?" they could hear Larry yelling at Mark. They were moving a couch out of one of the rooms. "You pussy!"

"Sorry," Mark muttered.

"Ready, Lee?" Kenny asked, ignoring the commotion from behind them. "Push! Come on, now!"

"Ugh, I can get it," said Lee, struggling to move the empty-gassed car out of the way, but he was able to do it.

Clementine heard someone approaching her, and she saw Lilly squatting down next to her, giving her a smile.

"Hi, Clementine, how are you?" she asked.

"I'm good, I'm drawing a picture of everyone here," Clem pointed out. "I was actually about to draw you!"

"Oh, that's nice," said Lilly. "I just came by to give something to you. Here." She dug in her pocket and pulled out two hair ties. "I thought you might want something to help you sleep better, and not get your hair in the way."

"Thank you," Clementine smiled and took the purple hair ties.

"Can I get you anything?" Lilly wanted to know.

Clem shook her head. "No thank you."

"Okay." Lilly got up and went to see how Lee was doing with the car.

Later that night, Clem was lying in her bed in the room that she shared with Lee. It was the latter's turn for the night shift, and the eight-year-old couldn't sleep without him there. Lee would always stay with her until she fell asleep.

She got out of bed and put on her shoes, and left the upstairs motel room. There was Lee, sitting on top of the RV in a lawn chair, holding a rifle. Clementine quietly walked down the stairs so as to not wake anyone else up.

She climbed up the ladder and stood near the top. "Lee?"

Lee turned around, and was a little surprised. "It's late, Clementine," he told her gently. "What are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep," the little girl replied honestly. "Well...I could for a while, but then I woke up and you weren't in your bed. So I thought you would be out here."

The man gave her a tiny smile. "You can sit up here with me for awhile, hon. Just try to speak quietly, okay?"

"Okay." Clementine climbed up and sat down beside the chair, resting her head on Lee's leg. Lee gently massaged the back of her head, secretly glad that she was here with him. They had bonded so quickly in just a short time.

Clementine looked up at the sky. There were a million little stars twinkling that night. It was peaceful, almost as if people weren't all around eating each other.

"The stars are really pretty," Clem commented after a minute.

Lee looked at her, and then to the sky. "Huh? Oh, yeah, they are."

"My dad would sometimes take me outside to look at them when my mom worked late at the hospital. He told me that the stars are called this really long word. Con...con...constallions or something."

Lee laughed softly. "I think you mean constellations, sweet pea."

"Yeah, that's it."

"Did you know that each individual star has a name, too?" Lee asked.

"They do?" Clem looked up.

"Yeah, look," Lee glanced around for a moment, then looked up at the sky. He pointed. "See that one? That's Arcturus, that one's close to the big dipper. And that's Polaris, that's actually the North Star."

"What about that one?" Clementine asked, pointing at the brightest.

"That's Venus, it's actually the next planet after Earth."

Clem smiled brightly. "We learned a song in school about all the planets. I was Venus in our school play!"

"I bet you were a good little Venus, Clementine," Lee smiled down at her.

The eight-year-old giggled. "Thanks."

"Hey, everything okay out here?" a new voice chimed in. Both turned around, and there stood Kenny near the top. He glanced over at Clementine and looked at Lee. "I see you have a helper tonight, Lee."

"Yeah, Ken, everything's fine," said Lee. "Actually, can you be on watch for a minute or two while I get this one back to her room?" He put his hand gently on Clem's back.

"Sure. Couldn't sleep with Larry's snoring in the next room, anyway," Kenny smirked.

Clementine was getting tired anyway. "Will you stay until I fall asleep, Lee?" she asked shyly.

"You know I will, sweet pea. Say goodnight to Kenny."

Th eight-year-old bid Kenny goodnight and climbed down from the ladder, and held Lee's hand as he guided her back to their room. Clementine put the hair ties that Lilly gave her back in her hair, and Lee tucked her back into bed.

"Goodnight, Lee," Clem whispered tiredly, already falling asleep.

Lee smiled as he adjusted the covers on her. "Goodnight, Clementine."

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**Sorry if I made everyone OOC. :P I could see this happening on a quiet night though. :3 Also, part of the chapter was when Jolene was spying on the group, but I changed it slightly. Please review, the next chapter will start Episode 2! :D**


	7. Starved For Help

**Thanks again to Assassin's Creed Master, and to UnknownArtyom and leafs nation for reviewing!**

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A long, slow three months passed by, and it was around fall. Things were becoming more tense than ever at the motor inn. Kenny and Lilly had been arguing more than usual lately, Lilly seemed to be paranoid about something (according to Kenny), and they were running out of food.

Lee, Mark, and Kenny had gone hunting that morning before most of the group woke up. Lilly was currently on watch, Larry was trying to work on getting up a fence, Carley was resting on a couch (since she'd had the last night shift), Duck was coloring with Katjaa by his side, and Clementine was repeatedly kicking a soccer ball that she'd found, hitting a barrel.

Lilly whistled then, and everyone crouched down to hide, the soccer ball hitting a barrel one last time.

"Get the gates open!" Lee was heard shouting. "We've got wounded!"

"Shit, what the hell are they doing?" Lilly demanded to no on in particular, dropping her rifle.

There was pandemonium and commotion all around as Lee, Mark, and Kenny entered with a teenage boy with dark blondish hair and a one-legged man.

"Come on, come on!" Kenny directed as they entered.

"Oh my God!" Katjaa cried. "What happened?"

There were so many voices after that that Clementine wasn't able to understand the whole situation. "Lee, are you okay?"

"Lee! LEE!" Lilly hollered over everyone. "What the hell? You can't just be bringing new people here! What are you thinking?!" She was clearly angry.

"Hey, you wanna calm _down_ for a fuckin' minute?" Kenny asked.

"HEY! You watch your tone!" Larry growled.

"No, I_ don't!"_ Lilly yelled. "I wanna know why bringing more mouths to feed was a good idea!"

"He would've _died_ if we left him!" Lee explained.

"So what?" Larry argued.

"We are _not_ responsible for every struggling survivor that we come across!" Lilly continued. "We have to focus on _our_ group!" Here she stepped forward and pointed at Lee. "Right here, right now!" She threw her fist down.

"Well, hang on!" Carley tried to reason. "We haven't even talked to these people yet, maybe they can be helpful!"

"Come on, Lilly, these are people!" Mark almost begged. "People trying to survive just like us. We've gotta stick together to survive!"

"The only reason you're here is because you had food," Lilly reminded him. "Enough for all of us. But that food is almost gone. We've got maybe a week's worth left, and I don't suppose you guys are carrying any groceries, are you?" She placed her hand on her hip and turned to the teenager in a sarcastic manner.

"No..." the boy replied.

"Fine, you guys fight it out, then," Mark didn't want any part of this. He turned to the teenager. "Welcome to the family, kid."

Clementine took action, then, wanting to get the boy away from the arguing group. "Come over here and see what I drew." She took his hand.

"What? No, I-" the boy began.

"Just come on, okay?" Clementine dragged him away, hoping that this new kid would be distracted. She went over to the coloring area where Duck was and sat them both down. She offered him a crayon. "Do you wanna color with us?"

The boy had listened in until Clem had spoken. "Huh? Oh, uh, no. No thanks. I'll just watch you, I guess."

"Okay. What's your name? I'm Clementine, and this is Duck and Carley," she pointed at the other two, Carley sitting down at that moment. The woman give the teenager a nod as if to say hello.

"I'm Ben, Ben Paul."

"I'm drawing Batman!" Duck announced, showing Ben a crayon-colored picture of his favorite superhero.

"Heh, that's nice," Ben chuckled nervously. He was feeling very awkward around these kids and the woman before him.

"You know what? I'm not doing it tonight. You do it." Everyone turned to face Lilly, who was getting out food rations from Clementine's backpack and handing them to Lee. "There's today's food rations, but there's not enough for everyone. Good luck."

Lee looked at her for a moment before taking the rations and pocketing them. Everyone else (except for Duck and Clem) was looking at him, wondering if they were going to get any food today.

Clementine heard Lee coming to them, so she got up to talk to him. Her special hat had been missing for a couple days, and she couldn't find it. Maybe Lee could help her? He was good at finding things.

"How you doing, Clementine?" he asked.

"Okay," the little girl responded a little unhappily.

"Where's your hat?"

"I don't know. Can you help me find it?"

"Sure. When did you lose it?" Lee inquired.

"I had it a couple days ago." At least she did if she remembered correctly.

"I promise, if I find it, I'll let you know," Lee assured her with a small smile.

"Thank you."

"Okay, Clem, I've got to take care of some things," Lee told her. "Why don't you go back to playing with Duck for awhile?"

"Okay," Clementine replied, turning back around to color some more. Maybe she would update her picture of everyone at the motor inn and add Ben to it, and that injured man if he was okay.

Before she knew it, Lee had come up to her again. She turned around to see what he wanted.

"Here, Clem, you need something to eat."

_Yay!_ Clementine thought. She was very hungry.

Lee reached into his pocket and handed her half an apple, which she took gratefully.

"I love apples!" she cried. "Thank you. Are there more?"

"No, hon, that was the last one," Lee responded.

"Oh...um..." Clem trailed off, now unsure if she should eat the apple. She didn't want to feel selfish.

_"Enjoy_ it," Lee reassured her. "You deserve it."

Clementine listened in on Lee's next conversation. "Hey Duck, how about a little food?"

Duck looked up at Lee with a happy expression, obviously wanting to eat something. Clem was glad that Lee wanted to feed him, too.

"Here," Lee handed the ten-year-old a pack of cheese and crackers.

"Yeah! Oh, man, I'm so hungry!" Duck cried.

"How you doing, Duck?" Lee asked when the child put the food down.

"I'm okay," said Duck. "Me and Clementine are coloring."

Clementine held out her picture of a kitty cat for Ben to see. "Guess what it is!" she spoke enthusiastically.

"I don't know...a dog?" Ben guessed, looking uninterested.

"Nope!"

"Oh, I know!" Duck piped up. "It's a goat, right?"

"No!" Clem shook her head, ever so slightly annoyed.

"Catch you later, Duck," Lee spoke up.

"Bye, Lee!" Duck replied.

Clementine learned later that Lee had also chosen to feed Kenny (who would only take the other pack of cheese and crackers after Duck had gotten some) and Lilly (after some persistence). Carley had refused, and gave him a granola bar in case he or Clem started feeling weak. Of course, not everyone was satisfied with Lee's choices, and Kenny pointed that out.

"You're _out?_ What happened to _my_ food?" Larry growled at Lee.

"There's none left," Lee responded.

"You keep treating people like this, and your days in this group are numbered!"

From her area, Clementine gasped slightly at those words. Carley glared at Larry, although he didn't see, and looked down at Clementine.

"Don't worry about him, honey," Carley reassured the little girl. "We won't let that happen. Just don't listen to him."

"Okay," Clementine nodded, and began to draw a new picture, this time of her school and its playground.

All was quiet for about a minute longer until everyone heard Katjaa scream. The kids immediately dropped their crayons and ran to see what the problem was. The man with the one leg, David Parker was now a walker, and was trying to bite Katjaa.

Lee stepped in and pulled David and Katjaa apart, then he turned to yell at Mark. "THE AXE! HURRY!"

David pulled Lee closer to him and tried to attack him. Carley held Duck and Clementine back, not wanting them to get into any danger. Mark ran over and ended up chopping the back window of the truck.

The walker grabbed Lee's leg and tried to bite it, but with no success. The latter fell out of the truck, David falling on top of him. Lee proceeded to start gouging his eyes out. Carley instructed the kids to stay with Ben and ran to help save Lee, shooting the walker David.

"You okay?" Carley asked.

"Yeah, thanks," Lee panted.

"Why did you bring him here in the first place, asshole?" Larry screamed.

"Dad, calm down!" Lilly instructed.

"You're going to get us all _killed!"_

Kenny turned to Ben angrily after comforting Katjaa. "Why didn't you tell us he was bitten?"

"What?" Ben sounded genuinely confused.

"He was bitten, and you didn't say a goddamned _word!"_

"But he wasn't bitten! I swear!" Ben insisted.

"Well, your 'not-bitten' friend here came back to life and tried to _kill_ my wife!"

"What? Wait, you all don't know?"

"Huh?" Clementine asked herself, although no one could hear.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Kenny demanded.

By now, everyone was gathered around Ben, waiting for his explanation.

"It's not the bite that does it!" Ben told everyone. "You come back no matter how you die. If you don't destroy the brain, that's just what happens. It's gonna happen to all of us!" Everyone was speechless, shocked looks all around.

"God help us," Lee muttered.

Ben continued. "When I first saw it happen, we were all hiding out in a gym, and everybody thought we were finally safe. One of the girls, Jenny Pitcher I think, I guess she couldn't take it. She took some pills. A lot of them." There was a pause. "Someone went in the girls' room the next morning and...God." Ben couldn't say anymore, but everyone seemed to know what happened from there.

"Back off!" Carley yelled. Everyone turned, and she was looking at a couple of men outside the motor inn, her gun pointed at them.

"Whoa, lady, relax!" the older-looking one held his arms up. "Me and my brother, we...we just want to know if y'all can help us out!"

Clementine stood behind Lilly, listening intently as to what was going on. The two men needed gas, and were willing to trade some food for some. They invited the group to check out their dairy farm a few miles up.

Lilly turned to Lee. "Lee, why don't you and Mark check the place out, see if it's legit."

"I'm going with you," Carley added. "I got your back if anything seems fishy."

"So, what are y'all thinking?" the taller man asked.

"We've got a deal," Lee replied. "We'll bring some gas to your dairy. In exchange, you give us some food to bring back. We'll see how it goes from there."

The same man nodded. "Sounds fair. A couple of gallons should power one of our generations for awhile."

Lee glanced at them and walked over to Clementine, kneeling down to her level. "If you all don't come later, I'll be back in a little while, okay?"

"Okay, just stay lucky," Clem gave him a warm, innocent smile.

"You know I will."

Lee got up, and he, Carley, and Ben walked out, following the two brothers into the woods. Clementine hoped that everything would work out, and they could all get some food in their systems soon.

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**Again, mostly just game dialogue. :P But I hope you've noticed that I'm trying not to use the word "said" or any other common word too much. Please leave a review, the next chapter should come out hopefully tomorrow. :) **


	8. The St Johns' Farm

**Thanks again to Assassin's Creed Master for reviewing, as well as heidipoo!**

**Also, I'm going to try and get every chapter to at least 2,000 words.**

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A little over an hour passed by uneventfully. Things were quiet at the motor inn, with the occasional chitchat from Clementine and Duck. Before too long, Carley and Ben reappeared at the motel gates.

"We're back!" Carley called.

Everyone except for Kenny (who was currently on watch) walked over to them.

"Anything?" Lilly asked.

"The St. Johns invited the group over to the dairy farm," Carley explained. "Their mother, Brenda, she said that she would cook all of us a big dinner. And we brought these. There were a lot in there." She held out a basket, which Lilly took and uncovered.

"If there was a lot, then how come there's only five biscuits in here?" she wanted to know, a stern look crossing her face.

"Well, hehe, we kinda ate some on the way," Ben laughed nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

Lilly handed the basket to Katjaa, who walked over to put it away, and turned back to the two. "So, since you two ate most of the biscuits, I don't suppose you would mind missing out on dinner and keeping an eye on the motor inn, right?"

Carley grimaced, but she knew that if she didn't agree, Lilly would be on her ass in seconds. "Fine. Ben and I will stay."

So it was decided. Lilly, Larry, Kenny and his family, and Clementine would go to the dairy farm to have the meal, while Carley and Ben would stay behind and guard the motel. Carley got up on top of the RV and watched them leave.

Once they reached the woods, Duck ran over to walk next to Clem. He looked a little worn out, but that was probably from being hungry.

"Hey, Clementine! Do you wanna play a game?" he chirped.

"Okay," the younger girl agreed. Walking out here in almost complete silence was kind of boring anyway. "Let's play I Spy. You go first!"

"Okay!" Duck cried. "Umm..." He looked around. "I spy something...brown!"

"Umm...your dad's hat?" Clem guessed, pointing in Kenny's direction.

"Nope!"

"The tree trunks?"

"Uh-uh!"

"The leaves?"

"Nope! Keep guessing!" Duck shouted.

"Ducky, not so loud," Katjaa scolded, but not harshly.

It took a few more tries, but the answer ended up being part of the pattern on Duck's shirt. Another twenty-five minutes or so (and about ten more games of I Spy) passed until the group made it to the farm. The St. Johns and Lee were swarmed around Mark, who had an arrow in his shoulder.

"Hey, y'all!" Kenny called, momentarily oblivious to the situation.

"Mark! Oh my God, what happened?" Katjaa asked, concerned.

"He got shot with an arrow," Lee responded.

"Christ!" Lilly exclaimed. "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mark tried to reassure them. "I should just...pull it out..."

"Oh, no, honey, c'mon, Brenda's got you," an overweight woman known as Brenda approached him. "C'mon inside now, we'll have you all sorted out." Brenda, Mark, and Katjaa walked off towards the large house.

"What kind of shit is this?" Larry demanded of Lee.

"We ran into some people on the way here," Lee explained. "Bandits, I guess. I think it was them that attacked us."

"They gave us a bunch of problems in the beginning, killed a bunch of our farmhands," the older brother, Andrew St. John, chimed in. "We were able to get 'em to stop by makin' a deal."

"You _knew_ about these people?" Kenny glared at him.

"Food for protection," Danny, the younger brother, spoke up. "Not like we had much of a choice, but they did stop hasslin' us."

Danny kind of scared Clementine for some reason, she wanted to stay away from him.

Lee and Danny arranged to go scoping out the nearby bandit camp, and Kenny and Lilly discussed whether or not the farm was safe. Andy and Danny talked to one another for a moment, and then turned back.

"Hey, I remember seeing kids in your group, so I went ahead and fixed that swing while you were out," Andy pointed in the opposite direction, where a singing swing stood beneath a tree. "Hope you kids like swings."

"A swing! I love swings! Just like at my treehouse!" Clementine cried excitedly. "Come on, Duck!"

"Why don't you kids go play on the swing, huh?" Kenny suggested.

"Yeah!" Duck shouted. He and Clementine ran to it, Duck getting on the swing first. Kenny went over to push his son while Clementine watched patiently.

The little girl looked around at her surroundings. This farm reminded her of how things used to be, before the world was in ruins. She hadn't seen a swing since she was home, and suddenly remembered her mother pushing her on the tire swing in the backyard.

"Push me high to the sky, Dad!" Duck shouted. "No, wait, to the _moon!"_

Kenny snickered at his son's innocence. "Alright, Duck."

After a few minutes, Lee came over and knelt down to Clem's level. "Hey Clem, do you like the swing?"

"Yeah! It's fun!" the child replied, although she had yet to have a turn.

"Be sure to tell Andy thank you, okay?" Lee instructed.

"I will," Clementine nodded. "Will you push me on it?"

"Sure, happy to push you on the swing," Lee obliged. He stood up and turned to Kenny. "Mind if Clementine takes a turn?"

"Alright, Duck, let's let Clementine have a try for a bit," Kenny told his son.

"Okay," Duck agreed, a little downcast that his fun had to end. The ten-year-old got up and went to sit on a nearby tree stump.

Clementine sat on the swing as Lee began to push her. He began to make conversation. "What do you think of the dairy?"

"It's pretty," Clementine responded truthfully. "It reminds me of how things used to look before."

"Yeah, it does."

"Do you think things will ever get back to how they were?" Clem asked. Although this whole mess had been going on for over three months now, the little girl still had her confidence. She hoped that Lee felt the same way.

"Yeah," Lee answered. "I'm not sure when, but one day things have got to get back to normal."

"That's good. I hope it's soon."

"Yeah, me too." A pause. "How are you holding up, Clementine?"

"I'm okay, I guess. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm just a little worried about Mark," said Lee.

"Is Mark going to be okay?" Clementine wanted to know. No one had seen him since he, Brenda, and Katjaa had went into the house.

"He got lucky out there, it could have been a lot worse," Lee told her.

"Are you going to find the people who hurt Mark?"

"We have to make sure they don't hurt anyone else," Lee informed.

"Be careful," Clem warned. "I want you to stay lucky, too."

"Ever since I met you I've had good luck, so don't worry," Lee assured her.

"Okay."

After a few more pushes, Lee spoke up again. "Don't worry. We're safe here now."

"As long as the bad people don't get me too, right?" Clementine asked. She hoped that Lee would always be there to protect her.

"I won't let what happened to Mark happen to you."

"Promise?"

"I promise." There were about five more pushes. "Alright Clem, that's enough for now."

"Okay. Thanks for pushing me!" Clementine exclaimed, getting off of the swing.

"Of course," Lee replied. He turned to Duck. "It's all yours."

"Yeah!" Duck ran over and climbed back on it.

"Okay, Duck, don't pop a gasket," Kenny told his son, a little worn out from all of his son's energy.

Lee walked over to talk to Kenny. Clementine didn't hear much, but she heard a slight mention of Hershel's farm, which surprised her a little bit. No one really talked about what happened there anymore, except for an occasional comment from Duck.

When their conversation ended, Lee approached her. "I've got some things to take care of, I'll be back in a bit."

"Okay," said Clementine.

Clem continued to watch Kenny push Duck on the swing. She almost wanted to ask if he would push her later on too, but she didn't want to ruin Duck's fun. Turning around, she watched as Lee was talking to the St. John brothers.

Lee and Danny took some guns and ran to the outdoor gate. Clementine ran to Lee to say good-bye.

"Are you going now?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll be back soon, Clementine," Lee assured her.

"Please be lucky," the eight-year-old spoke softly, innocently.

"I will."

Lee walked away, and Clem watched the two men go, looking sad for just a moment. Once they were out of sight, the little girl ran back over to the swing, where Kenny was still going strong on pushing Duck.

"I'm on the top of the world!" Duck cried. "I can almost touch the sky! Maybe I'll see Batman! Do you think I'll see Batman, Dad?"

Kenny smirked. "You might, Duck," he played along. He turned towards Clementine. "I think we should let Clementine have another turn here soon, okay son?"

"Okay."

Clem couldn't help but smile widely. After a few minutes, Duck got off. Clementine wished that Lee was there to push her on the swing, but she didn't mind Kenny doing it. Duck sat on the tree stump again, swinging his legs.

"Reach out for the moon, Clementine!" the older boy called excitedly.

Kenny had been pushing Clementine on the swing for no more than several minutes when Andrew approached them.

"Hey, y'all, having fun?" he asked.

"Yeah, lots!" Clementine replied, giving Andrew a grin.

Andy turned to Kenny. "Hey, uh, your wife's the veterinarian, right? She's got our cow, Maybelle, all fixed up in the barn if the kids want to see her. That woman is a lifesaver."

"You kids want to go see the cow?" Kenny asked the two children.

"Yeah!" Duck exclaimed, getting up.

Kenny stopped the swing for Clementine, and she got off.

"Thank you for fixing the swing, Andy!" Clem told the older St. John brother. "It was lots of fun!"

"Yeah, thanks!" Duck added. He turned to Clem. "I'll race you to the barn, Clementine!"

"Okay! One, two, three...GO!" The two children ran ahead to the barn, Duck being slightly faster since he was taller, while Andrew and Kenny walked behind them. Duck bolted to the barn door and touched it. "I won!"

"That's not fair," Clementine giggled.

The kids opened the barn door and went inside. Katjaa was sitting in a chair, tending to a skinny cow.

"Wow..." Clementine breathed softly, taking in her surroundings. She smelled the air. _It smells like doo-dee again,_ she thought.

"Cool!" Duck added.

"Will the cow be okay?" Clem asked Katjaa.

"Maybelle will be fine, honey," Katjaa assured her. "You and Duck can pet her in a moment, okay?"

Clementine nodded and began wandering around the barn, thinking about Lee. She hoped he was okay, and that he would stay lucky like he promised. Maybe later she would draw a picture of the two of them.

After a short time, Duck's curious eyes rested on a brick-like item. "Hey, what's that?"

"That's called a salt lick, Duck," Kenny explained. "Horses lick it."

"Ohhh," Duck replied, fascinated. He whipped around. "Hey Clementine, I dare you to lick the salt lick!"

Clementine looked hesitant, but decided to go along with it. "Okay..." She knelt down and gave the salt lick a huge...lick, and a look of disgust spread on her face. "Eww! That's gross!" she cried.

"Yeah, that's not really for people," Kenny chucked.

Clem grimaced and walked towards the front, when Katjaa asked her to close the barn door. The little girl walked over and looked out, and much to her delight, Lee was back, unscathed. He was currently talking to Brenda in front of the house.

Lee noticed her, and she gave him a wave and closed the door, hoping that he would come in and pet the cow with her soon.

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**And that's where I'll end this chapter. The next one is where the fun begins, so please, please leave a review!**

**Also, I was thinking about writing an AU story (probably a one-shot) where Sarah from Season 2 lives, because I was very unhappy about her death. I don't know what I'll do yet.**


	9. Dinnertime

**Thank you to leafs nation for leaving another review! :)**

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Clementine heard the barn door open, but she was currently preoccupied on the cow in front of her, wondering if she could pet her now. Duck looked at Maybelle curiously, and Clementine was just so excited to see a living animal again.

"It's okay, Clementine, you can pet her," Katjaa told her.

Clem turned around to face Lee as if asking his permission, and he nodded. "It's okay, go ahead."

The little girl knelt down and pet Maybelle, impressed by how soft she felt. "Whoa..." She looked up. "Katjaa says Maybelle could have her baby tonight!" It turned out that nothing was really wrong with the cow, except that she was pregnant.

"We'll see, Clementine," said Katjaa.

"What's this thing?" Lee asked. Both of the kids turned, and he was knelt down, looking at the salt lick that Clem had licked not an hour earlier.

"Daddy said it's called a salt lick," Duck replied.

"Yeah, but don't lick it, it's gross," Clementine added, remembering the dare.

Lee folded his arms and gave her a playful, teasing smile. "Did you lick it?"

Clementine gave him a look that said she was trying to hide something. "I don't know."

"Have I missed anything?"

"No...not really," Duck answered. He sniffed the air loudly. "It smells funny in here."

"Like doo-dee!" Clementine piped up.

Both of the children giggled at that.

"Kids..." Katjaa scolded cautiously. Duck's smile faded and turned his attention back to Maybelle.

"Hey, Andy," Lee greeted. "We met this woman up in the woods, and...she seemed to know your brother."

"Yeah, he, uhh..." Andrew trailed off. "He probably talks a little more than he oughta." Why was he laughing nervously?

Lee changed the subject. "How's the cow?"

"Better now that we got Doc on the case," Andy replied. Katjaa heard this, and gave an approving nod.

"Uhh...when do you think, uh, we might eat?" Lee asked curiously. Clementine was wondering the same thing.

"Hungry, huh? Don't worry, Mama's cookin' up some good grub."

Clem and Duck smiled excitedly at that news. They were more than looking forward to eating a real dinner.

Lee thanked Andy and turned back to Clementine. "How do you like that cow, Clem?"

"She's pretty," the little girl responded.

"Here, Clementine," Lee said next, pulling none other than her hat out of his back pocket.

"My hat! You found it!" Clem cried, taking the hat and placing it back on her head. She bounced happily. "I knew you'd find it! You said you would!"

"Listen, did you give your hat to anyone?" Lee inquired.

"No."

"Did you see any strangers around the motor inn who might have taken it?"

"No, why?" Clem asked. Lee squatted down to her level.

"It's probably nothing," the man reassured her. "Just let me know if you ever see anything like that."

"Okay, I will," Clementine promised. She decided to ask something else. "Hey Lee, do you think you'll ever have kids?"

"I'd like to someday," Lee admitted. "Maybe a little girl, like you."

"That's nice, you'd be a good daddy," the eight-year-old replied. "Well, thanks for finding my hat."

"You're welcome, Clem."

"Do you want to pet the cow with me?"

"Nah, but you go on ahead."

Lee walked over to the back of the barn, and the kids saw Kenny enter. Clementine only got bits and pieces of their conversation, but it sounded like they wanted to get the back door open. Andy told them not to mess around with it.

From the front of the barn, Katjaa put her hand on the cow's stomach and frowned. "Andrew, I need your help again!"

Lee walked out of the barn, and the noise of the power generator was soon heard.

Andy grumbled. "Fuckin' Danny, he needs to just stay the hell away from the damn generator." He muttered some curses under his breath and walked out of the barn, the door closing behind him. Clementine turned to Duck.

"They swear a lot here," she pointed out.

"One time I said the S word, and I got a bar of soap in my mouth," Duck remembered, grimacing. "I had to leave it on for _twenty_ whole minutes!"

"And you haven't said a word like that since," Kenny reminded him from his spot by one of the stalls.

Clementine giggled.

Five or so minutes passed before Lee walked back into the barn. Almost the exact moment that he did, a bell rung. It was time for dinner!

Duck got up excitedly. "Mom! Dad! Dinnertime! It's dinnertime!" he cried.

"Okay, honey, let's get Dad," Katjaa told him.

With that, Duck giddily ran over to Kenny. "Dad! Dad! Come on, let's EEEEAT!"

"Kenny, come along, honey," Katjaa added, getting up away from Maybelle. "Kenny, c'mon, don't make the children wait."

Kenny whispered something to Lee and walked out of the barn with Katjaa, Duck, and Clementine.

"Is Lee coming?" Clem asked curiously.

"He'll be out in a moment, darlin'," Kenny reassured her. "He just has something to take care of in the barn."

"Oh. Okay."

Andrew walked towards the barn with a stoic expression, possibly to get Lee. The other four walked into the house, where Brenda greeted them all with a huge smile, taking off her oven mitt.

"Hey, y'all! I'm just about to go get the food," she told them. "Why don't you take a seat at the table?"

So they did. Clementine didn't really want to sit next to Larry, but so did so anyway without complaint. At that, Danny brought out another basket of biscuits from the kitchen, along with a butter plate that he placed by Kenny.

"Biscuits, wow!" Duck exclaimed. Clementine's mouth was almost watering.

"Brenda, you are an angel," Larry chuckled.

Brenda grinned. "Everybody sit down, and I'll go get the meal!" she announced. "Oooh, this _is_ a delight!"

"I could eat a horse," Kenny spoke up.

Lee walked into the room then. "Where's Mark?"

"Now don't you worry about him, I already brought some food up," Brenda replied. "You just let him rest."

Lee nodded, but had a suspicious look on his face. "Mind if I wash my hands first?"

"Bathroom's right outside in the hall," Brenda told him. "And be sure to get under your nails, you've been muckin' around in the dirt all day."

Without a word, Lee left the kitchen. There were different conversations from around the table, but all was silent for a moment when they heard a creak. Clementine saw Andrew clench a fist.

Brenda and Danny went into the kitchen and put dishes of food on the table. Mashed potatoes, green beans, it all looked delicious. Finally, Brenda came in with the meat, something pinkish-red. It looked like pork, but Clem wasn't sure.

There was an odd odor in the air, almost like blood, and the little girl wondered if anyone else could smell it. Everyone began filling their plates, Katjaa filling Duck and Clementine's for them, and most of them started eating.

Larry turned to Clementine and smiled lightly. She and Lilly were really the only ones that he treated with respect in the whole group. "Eat up, munchkin."

"I'm waiting for Lee," Clem responded politely.

Larry shrugged, not wanting to push it, and continued eating.

"Lee, did ya fall in?" Brenda called. "Dinner's on the table and everyone's havin' at!"

"Barbecue, wow!" Duck cried, digging into his food.

Clementine heard Lee coming towards the room then, and decided that it was safe to eat. She dove her fork into a piece of the meat - whatever it was - and was about to take a bite when Lee started yelling.

"CLEMENTINE, NO!" he shouted.

A surprised Clementine looked at the piece of meat on her fork and placed it down, wondering why Lee didn't want her to eat it.

"Lee, Jesus, man, did you find something?" Kenny asked.

"Ah, sit your ass down, Lee, this lady has made you a meal!" Larry demanded.

"Yeah, Lee, what's gotten into you?" Lilly questioned.

"He just had a start," Brenda spoke up.

"Well, he could use some goddamn manners!" Larry almost yelled.

"This woman right here is _fucking_ insane!" Lee cried, pointing at Brenda. Clementine gasped lightly.

"This woman made you a home-cooked meal, you ungrateful shit!" Larry retorted. "Show some respect!"

"Thank you, Larry," Brenda grumbled.

"You don't even have the _decency_ to take a handout when you're offered one!" Larry added. "It just makes me sick, it really does."

"That's enough, Larry," said Brenda.

"Ken..." Katjaa trailed off.

"You know what? _Fuck_ you, Larry! Eat up!" Lee pointed a firm finger at the old man. Clementine flinched away, wondering what was going on.

"I will, and I'll enjoy every last bite," Larry hissed, taking a piece of meat and eating it, as if to detest Lee some more. Clementine watched in horror, wondering what this "meat" really was, and was glad that Lee had stopped her.

"Lee, what the hell is wrong with you?" Lilly wanted to know.

"Don't indulge him, Lilly," Larry warned his daughter. "It's always something with this guy."

Katjaa took Duck's plate away. "Mom, I was _eating_ that!" the ten-year-old whined.

_Lee, what's going on?_ Clementine wanted to cry out.

"They're picking us off to trade as_ meat!"_ Lee announced.

"You're out of your skull!" Larry hollered.

"Mark is upstairs right now with NO LEGS!" Lee exploded. "Brenda, tell me he's not being eaten right now."

The table was silent, and everyone in the group turned to Brenda, who closed her eyes for a moment. She opened them and sighed.

"It's true," she admitted.

"Everything could've turned out okay for you folks," Danny said in a dangerously low voice.

"He would've died anyway!" Andrew spoke up. "We gotta think about_ livin'!"_

"Settle down, honey," Brenda warned. "Growin' up in rural Georgia, you're taught not to waste. It's how I was raised, and how I raised my boys. Now, you got monsters roamin' around that do nothing but eat people! And for what? To continue to rot until they eat some more!"

"Ugh, I'm gonna puke," Lilly moaned, pushing her plate away.

"You're all sick...sick in the head!" Lee replied.

"Andy is right, we go after people who were gonna die anyways, one way or another!" Brenda continued.

Danny put down his fork. "Like y'all."

Lee looked around. "Clementine, run!"

Clementine jumped, looking surprised. She had nothing to say.

"Nobody's going anywhere!" Andy yelled, getting a gun out from behind and pointing it in every direction. Danny got up and pulled out a rifle, doing the same.

"We've got _lots_ of use for y'all, right here," the younger brother added.

"What...the fuck...the fucking..._what!"_ Larry stuttered.

"Put the guns down! We're walking _out_ of here!" Lilly demanded.

"Mommy, I don't wanna die," Duck pouted. "Mommy, what did I eat?"

"Everyone! Everything will be okay!" Lee called out.

Clementine whimpered, trying to avoid tears. "Lee...Lee!"

Andrew immediately grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up, causing her to scream.

Lee looked angry. "I'LL KILL YOU!" he yelled, starting to walk over. He was met at the wrong end of the rifle, held by Danny.

Just then, thumping noises could be heard from the hall, which grabbed everyone's attention. Andy, hand still firmly gripped on Clem's curly hair, pointed his gun in the direction of the noise.

"Pleeeease...someone," a man moaned, crawling through. It was Mark. But he was...legless? Everyone let out gasps of disgust, and Clementine now knew what these people had tried to feed her mere minutes ago.

A trail of blood appeared from behind Mark, and Lee turned around. Clementine looked at him pleadingly, and he tried to get to her.

"CLEMENTI-" Lee tried to shout, but was hit with Danny's rifle.

"LEE!" Clem screamed, trying to break free, but Andy was a lot stronger than she was. "LET ME GO!"

"Shut up, shut the fuck up!" Andrew hissed at her. He glanced around. "You," he nodded at Kenny, "and you," he nodded at Larry, "carry him. Everyone follow us, and whoever tries to escape will be shot immediately,_ got it?"_

Everyone had no choice but to oblige. Kenny and Larry picked up the unconscious Lee, and they all headed out. It had begun raining. Andy was practically dragging Clementine along, and the little girl decided that fighting him was useless.

Andy turned to his brother. "Danny, take the doc and the boy with you, I'll handle the rest."

Danny nodded, and poked Katjaa quite hard with his rifle. "Let's go."

"KAT! DUCK!" Kenny screamed, but he shut up when Andrew pointed his gun at him.

"Don't you worry about them," he scolded. "Just come on."

Kenny gritted his teeth. "You _motherfuckers!"_ he hissed. "All of you!"

The six people reached the barn, and went through a room with chainsaws and other weapons, and lots of blood. Clementine whimpered, hoping that nothing bad would happen to anyone.

Andy opened a door with his free hand, and the room revealed to be some type of meat locker.

"All of you, get the fuck in there, right now!" he demanded. He pushed Clementine, who let out a scream, into the meat locker, and once everyone was in there, Andrew slammed the door and locked it behind him.

Clementine looked at Lee, extremely afraid, and hoped that he would wake up soon.

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**There's Chapter 9! Please leave a review!**


	10. The Meat Locker

**Thank you to heidipoo for reviewing Chapter 8 and 9! I hope to see more of _Guardian Angel_ and _And Then The World Changed_ soon!**

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Larry began pounding on the door and yelling mere seconds after they were trapped in the meat locker. Lilly was off to the side, puking her guts out after eating Mark. Kenny was off to the side, looking very angry, and Clementine just stood near Lee, who was still unconscious.

"OPEN THE GODDAMNED DOOR!" Larry hollered. "YOU CAN'T KEEP US IN HERE! OPEN UP! I WILL TEAR YOU FUCKERS APART WITH MY BARE HANDS!"

"Will you stop that banging?" Kenny demanded. "We've gotta find a way outta here!"

"YOU SICK FUCKING BASTARDS!" Larry screamed, ignoring Kenny. "OPEN THIS DOOR, GODDAMN IT! I WILL KNOCK THE GODDAMN DOOR DOWN!"

"Dad, stop!" Lilly tried to warn him.

Clementine looked over at Lee again, and saw that his eyes were starting to flutter open. "Lee!"

Lee sat up and looked at her, and she began stuttering. "It...it was a person. They tried to make us eat a person!"

"But you didn't do it," Lee reminded her.

"No..."

"The rest of us did, goddamn it!" Larry turned around and began yelling at Lee. "If you hadn't dragged your feet..."

"C'mon, Dad," Lilly tried to coax her father. "Now's not the time."

"That evil fucker _invited_ me to eat the meat, and all the time he _knew_ what it was!"

"Stay calm, Dad, we'll deal with it later," Lilly pleaded.

"You okay, Clementine?" Lee asked the little girl gently. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Mm-mm."

"OPEN UP!" Larry continued to beat on the door.

"Lee, those psychos have my family, and we're stuck in a damn meat locker!" Kenny screamed. "We've gotta get the _fuck_ outta here!"

"This goddamn thumbsucker was the one who brought us here!" Larry accused Lee.

"Will you all just _shut the fuck up?"_ Kenny demanded.

"I'm scared," Clem looked up at Lee, her golden eyes wide with fear.

"Don't be," Lee assured her. "It's gonna be okay, I'm gonna find us a way out of here. Don't give up."

"Can I help?" she asked.

"Sure, honey. You keep your eyes open for exposed screw or loose panels, anything we can pry away to open a passage out of here."

"Okay."

Clementine was glad that she now had a task. Her eyes darted around the cold meat locker, but she didn't see anything useful. Larry wouldn't stop pounding on the door and screaming obscenities, and Lilly was trying to get him to calm down, but to no avail.

Lee looked behind some pallets to see if there was a hole, but there was no such luck.

"I'll break the damn door down!" Larry shouted.

"Dad, you can't get-" Lilly began, but was interrupted by her father's sudden scream.

"AHHH!" Larry yelled, clutching his heart. "Ugh..."

"Easy," Lilly tried to soothe him.

"Oh, God..." Larry whispered.

"DAD?!"

Larry immediately collapsed, causing Clementine to gasp. What was going on? Was Larry dead?

Lilly knelt down and grabbed her father's head. "NO! Dad, come on! DAD!...Oh God, he's stopped breathing. I think he's had a heart attack!"

"Shit, is he dead?" Kenny wanted to know.

"He's not dead! Somebody help me!" Lilly demanded.

"Fuuuuck...if he's dead..."

"He's NOT. DEAD!"

"You know what has to happen, Lee," Kenny turned to his friend. "Think about it. You saw that poor bastard at the motel, how fast he turned."

"What are you saying?" Lilly was rapidly pumping Larry's heard, trying to revive him.

"Lilly, I'm sorry, I truly, truly am," Kenny tried to reassure her. "But in a few minutes, we're gonna be stuck in a locked room with a 6'4, 300-pound, _seriously_ pissed-off dead guy!"

_But he's not dead!_ Clementine wanted to shout. _Lilly's going to fix her dad, he'll be okay!_

"FUCK YOU! We can bring him back!" Lilly cried. "LEE!"

"We'll mourn him later," said Kenny. "But right now, we have to keep him from comin' back!"

"Nooo!" Clementine protested.

"Goddamn it, Kenny, he's NOT DEAD!" Lilly argued.

"We can't kill him if he's not dead, Kenny!" Lee seemed to agree.

Clementine didn't listen to much after that, she couldn't keep her eyes off of Lilly's firm attempt to revive her father.

"Remember what Ben said, gotta destroy the brain," Kenny reminded Lee. "Come on, Lee! You can't be in the middle on this one! You've gotta have my back this time!"

"Goddamn it, Lee, I need you!" Lilly begged. "Please help me!"

Clementine back herself up to the wall, watching with fearful eyes. She watched in somewhat relief as Lee ran over to assist Lilly.

"Is he breathing at all?" Lee inquired.

"No! No, I don't think so!" Lilly cried.

"Okay, let me take over!" Lee instructed. "Keep checking his pulse."

Clementine looked at Kenny, who turned around. Behind him were a bunch of salt licks. The little girl began shaking her head very fast, hoping that Kenny would notice. But unfortunately for her, Kenny picked up one of the salt licks anyway.

"Are you stupid? He's gonna turn!" Kenny yelled. "You're putting all of us at risk, you son of a bitch!" The mustached man gritted his teeth, clutching the salt lick. Clementine knew that there was no chance in fighting with him.

Lee ignored him and continued to help Lilly, so Kenny took action.

"You're fucking worthless, Lee!" he shouted. He walked over and slammed the salt lick onto Larry's head, spilling brains and blood all over the place. Clementine gasped, and her lip quivered. _No...no!_

Lilly looked horrified, and began crying before Clementine could. "NOOOO!"

"Kenny! What-" Lee couldn't finish.

"I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!" Kenny truly looked apologetic. "It just...it had to be done!"

"You don't know that!" Lee scolded him.

"Yes I do, Lee! And so do you! I was counting on you, man!"

Clementine turned around and covered her eyes, trying to fight back her own tears. She could hear Kenny giving his condolences to Lilly, but she wouldn't allow it. That's when the eight-year-old began full-out crying, she didn't like this.

Lee walked over to her, and she turned around. "Are you okay?" he asked her.

Clementine's breaths were shaky. "Is it over?"

"Yes. For now," Lee replied. "But we still need to find a way out of here."

Clem let out some tiny sobs, and Lee gave her a hug, giving her some soft pats on the back to comfort her.

"Shhh, I know, I know," Lee soothed her. "But you gotta be strong right now. I need you to be strong. Think about something else, something...hopeful."

"Like what?"

"Getting out of here."

"We're gonna get out, right?" Clementine asked. "You found a way out?"

Lee got up. "I'm working on it."

Clementine sunk down and sat quietly, again wanting to help Lee search for something useful, but still with no luck. The little girl pulled her knees close, still whimpering and looking frightful. She glanced back at Larry's corpse and looked away quickly.

Lee came up with a solution: The air conditioner.

"There ought to be an air duct behind this unit," he announced. "Maybe big enough for one of us to fit through."

Clementine got up after hearing that. "Does the air conditioner come off?"

"I think I could take it off...if I had something to remove the screws." He remembered something he had picked up earlier. "The multitool!" He reached into his back pocket and frowned. "Of course they took it, shit."

"Maybe there's something else we could use," Clem suggested. "I've got a rock."

"A rock won't help, but a coin might do the trick," Lee responded. "Do you have a coin?"

"Uh-uh," Clementine said regretfully.

She sat back down again, and Lee walked over to talk to the grieving Lilly.

"I think I might have found a way out of here," he told her. "But I need something to remove the screws on the air conditioner. If you had something I could use as a screwdriver...a coin or something."

"No," Lilly hissed.

Lee sighed. "What about...him? Look, I know this is a terrible time for it, but...back at the motor inn, Larry mentioned something about keeping coins in his pockets."

"What do you want?" Lilly asked darkly. "My _blessing_ to _loot_ his corpse?"

"Your...permission."

Lilly sighed, her breathing shaky, and turned back to her dead father. "Do what you have to do." She sounded like she was about to cry again.

Lee searched Larry's corpse, and found sixty cents on the third pocket. He went over to the air unit and used one of the two quarters to loosen the screws. Kenny went over and helped Lee pick up the duct and place it down.

"Well, there's our way out, Lee," Kenny pointed out.

"Clementine can fit through," Lee replied.

"Looks like it'll probably lead right into that back room."

At her name, Clementine stood up, and Lee approached her and squatted down to her level.

"You know you don't have to do this, right?"

"We're gonna go home, right?" Clementine asked. "Are we gonna go home?"

"This'll help us get home," Kenny assured her.

Clem sighed. "Okay."

She walked over, and Lee gave her a boost, putting her inside the open air vent. "You're gonna be fine."

"What do I do when I get out?" she asked.

"See if you can get to the other side of that door and open it," Lee instructed.

Clementine turned around and started crawling, looking around nervously. There were two exits, one for the barn and one for the back room. She crawled to the back room exit on the left and opened up the other vent.

It was that same room with all of the weapons and blood. Clem turned around and saw Danny St. John sitting in front of the barn, holding his precious rifle, causing her to gasp. Danny thought he heard something and turned around, but Clementine got away before she could be seen.

She walked over to the door and opened it, letting Lee and Kenny know that she had succeeded.

"Are you okay? Did anyone see you?" Lee whispered.

"No, but...there's a man outside," Clem replied.

Kenny walked over to the door.

"Where the hell are you going?" Lee wanted to know.

"What do you care?" Kenny snarled, obviously angry that Lee hadn't helped with killing Larry. He walked out.

"KENNY!"

Lee didn't go after him, though, and knelt beside Lilly. "Lilly, I'm sorry, we've gotta go."

"I know," Lilly spoke, but not too loudly. "I just need a minute to say good-bye." She looked up. "Hey, we're good. Okay?"

"Yeah, this is good," Kenny was heard talking to himself.

"Shit, he's gonna get us all killed!" Lee exclaimed. He walked over to the door, and looked at Clementine. "Stay here, and take care of Lilly, okay?"

"I will," the little girl nodded.

Lee walked out, and Clem stood by the door. She decided to stay quiet and let Lilly mourn for as long as she needed to, or until something happened.

"Dad, oh God..." Lilly whispered, taking one of Larry's hands and squeezed it. "That piece of shit! How could he? I _fucking_ hate him!"

Clementine looked out, and the coast was still clear.

Lilly continued. "I love you, Dad. You were the only thing I had in this world since Mom died...oh my GOD!" She covered her mouth with her hand. She was clearly trying to be strong, trying to hide her tears from Clementine. "I'm so fucking sorry, Dad..."

Clem looked down at Larry's corpse sadly. She wished she were big enough, strong enough, to try and stop Kenny.

Just then, the two heard a gunshot, causing both females to jump.

"Wh-What's going on?" Clementine asked, as if Lilly had the answer.

Lilly breathed heavily and closed her eyes. "Come on, Clementine. We'd better go."

"Okay."

Lilly got up, taking one final look at Larry, and walked out of the meat locker, with the eight-year-old following. Much to their horror, Lee was in trouble. Lilly grabbed a hook-like weapon and stabbed Danny, who was trying to kill Lee, in the shoulder twice.

Danny backed up, and ended up getting his leg caught in the bear trap behind him.

Lee got up and gave Kenny a look, as the mustached man had done nothing to help. Kenny gave him a remorseful look, and they all heard Katjaa scream. Kenny looked shocked, and ran out of the barn.

Lee turned around and grabbed a pitchfork, aiming it at Danny, who was defenseless.

"Eerrgghhh!" Danny groaned. "You see? You understand now, don't you? You can have _me!"_

_What does that mean?_ Clementine wondered.

"It's how the world works now!" Danny continued. "Give part of yourself...so others can live!"

"I should fucking kill you right now!" Lilly glared down at him. After all, he was part of the cause of Larry's death.

"Mark never volunteered to be_ food!"_ Lee added, his pitchfork still aimed at Danny.

"You gotta keep me alive!" Danny exclaimed. "If you kill me, the meat gets tainted! You can't eat it!"

"You're already tainted!"

"You ain't gonna kill me, just like you didn't kill Jolene!"

Lee threw the pitchfork...into the haystack that was next to Danny. "This is _not_ how the world works now!" he argued. "You won't make me kill you!"

Although Danny was a bad man, Clementine was glad that Lee had decided to spare him. He was right, the world didn't work by killing and eating people to survive. She would remember that Lee had spared Danny's life.

Lee went over, and Clem managed a small smile. The man turned around, and then back to the two females.

"Go, I'll cover you," Lilly reassured him.

"Just stay here and keep Clementine safe!" Lee instructed. He looked down. "I'll be right back."

Clementine nodded once, and Lee exited the barn.

She looked up at Lilly, and Lilly only glanced down at her.

"We'll stay here until Lee comes back, or we need to help him," Lilly explained. "Is that okay with you?"

Clem nodded again. "I'm glad you helped Lee."

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**The next chapter will be the last one of Episode 2. Please be sure to give me feedback, I always enjoy your reviews and PMs! :)**


	11. Doing Justice: End Of Episode 2

**Thanks again to heidipoo and Assassin's Creed Master for reviewing!**

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"I still don't know why Lee didn't just finish you off," Lilly snarled at Danny, whose leg was still caught in the bear trap.

"Are you sure you don't wanna just...y'know...cut off my leg and cook me up?" Danny smirked. He had a demonic look in his eyes. "I bet I taste damn good."

"You sick _fuck!"_ Lilly hissed. "You assholes are the reason my father is _dead!"_

Danny turned to look at Clementine, who was sitting beside Lilly on a haystack. "Hey little girl, if I come out of this alive, how about-"

"NO!" Clementine screamed, afraid. She placed her hands over her ears before Danny would finish. Lilly just glared, looking sick, and shook her head.

Moments later, they could hear a gunshot. A curious Clem went to the front of the barn to see Kenny on the ground. Andy was holding Duck, who was screaming, hostage, and Lee approached them with his arms out.

Much to the little girl's surprise, Carley and Ben appeared out of nowhere, and Carley shot Andy in the ear, causing him to let go of Duck. Lee and Andrew began fighting over the rifle that the latter was holding. They both tumbled down a small hill and broke apart some of the picket fence.

Andy got up and kicked Lee in the face, sending him down again. Then, he went over and turned on the nearby generator.

Clementine, who was watching from the barn, gasped. _He's going to kill Lee! _

Andy walked back over and began dragging Lee to the electric fence that was now buzzing. But Lee wasn't going down without a fight. He tried to punch Andy, without much success. Andrew grabbed Lee's head and tried to push it towards the fence.

"Andy's trying to kill Lee!" Clem announced in a scared voice. "He's trying to-"

Lilly got up and took her rifle when she heard this.

"Lilly!" Lee called for help.

Without hesitation, Lilly fired and sent Andy down, freeing Lee. Lee immediately got on top of Andy and began punching his lights out. Before long, the latter's face looked very out of proportion. Clementine ran to where the rest of the group was standing, and Lilly followed her.

"Is that all you got, Lee?" Andy grunted, lifting his head. "You ain't _shit!"_

Lee panted, and then yelled out, "It's over!"

_"Fuck_ you! As soon as Dan and Mama get out here, you're all _fucked!"_

"They're both dead!" Lee cried.

Andrew looked horrified. "...What did you do? What the FUCK did you do?!"

Clementine backed away a little bit and stood next to Lilly, watching with a mix of fear and interest of what Lee was going to do. Lee turned around and began walking away, leaving Andrew to his own devices.

"Don't you DARE walk away from me, Lee!" he called, dropping to his knees. "GET BACK HERE AND FINISH THIS, LEE!"

Lee stopped, and looked between both sides before just shaking his head, and continued to walk away.

"Get back here and fight me like a man, Lee!" Andy demanded. "LEEEEE...eeeee..."

There were those familiar moaning noises again. Walkers were beginning to approach the fence.

"They're getting in!" Clementine cried, pointing.

"LEE!" Andrew screamed out.

But Lee wasn't having any of it. "Let's go, let's go," he ordered, walking out. Clementine ran to stand next to him.

"Leeeee!" they could barely hear Andy now.

It stopped raining a little ways into the walk back to the motor inn. Clementine watched as Carley and Lee had a conversation. Carley clearly wanted to know all of the details about what had happened.

"Were they really killing people? For food?" Carley wanted to know.

"Yeah, and Clementine almost ate some," Lee replied.

"But?"

"I stopped her. I can't leave her alone, Carley. This fucking world, now. It's just...hiding unspeakable shit at every turn."

Clementine bit her lip at hearing this, but she couldn't help but smile lightly to herself. What would she do without Lee? She saw Carley hand him some kind of video camcorder that was with his stuff, after some persistence.

Clementine walked over to Lee after he said some words to Kenny, wanting to be close to him after what had happened.

"Come on, Clementine, stay close," Lee said to her.

"Lee? Are those bad people dead?" Clem asked.

There was a pause. "We didn't kill them, so I don't know," he was pretty straightforward.

"Okay."

"Hey, Dad? What's that noise?" Duck was heard saying.

Kenny walked forward to check it out. "Sounds like a car."

"Oh, God...not more strangers," Ben added to no one in particular.

Everyone walked forward quietly, and it turned out that Kenny was right, there was a car with the passenger side door open and the light on. But who in their right mind would leave a car out in the open in the zombie apocalypse?

"Don't shoot, we're here to help!" Lee called, wondering if anyone was there.

Lee looked into the car and saw that the keys were still in the ignition. "Figures."

Clem watched as Kenny walked over to the trunk of the car. "Oh, crap! Baby, you gotta see this!" he called to Katjaa. "There's a shitload of food and supplies back here!" At that, everyone walked (or ran, in Duck's case) forward.

"This food could save all of us!" Katjaa pointed out.

Lilly glared and turned away. "Not _all_ of us," she spoke slowly. She was obviously thinking about Larry.

Kenny looked away from her with a sigh. Duck looked at his father curiously.

"Look, we don't know if these people are dead!" Ben announced. Clementine was hoping that he could make talk everyone out of what was about to happen.

"If they come back, then we're just monsters who came out of the woods and ruined their lives," said Lilly.

It was time for Clementine to speak up. "This stuff isn't ours," she pointed out the obvious.

"Dad, whose car is it?" Duck asked.

"Don't worry about that, Duck, it's ours now," Kenny reassured his son.

"It's abandoned, Ducky, don't worry."

"But what if it's not?" Clem called out. Everyone looked at her. "What if it's not abandoned? What if it IS someone's?"

Lee thought about it for a moment, and then walked over to her. "You're right, we shouldn't take this."

"What?! Did you get some meal that the rest of us missed out on?" Kenny demanded. "We _have_ to take this stuff!"

"We'll survive without it," Lee assured him.

"The hell we will!"

"We'll find a way."

"The rest of us are taking this stuff," Kenny announced. He held out his hand for the keys, which Lee reluctantly gave to him.

_What if they come after us if they come back?_ Clementine thought, a little paranoid. She held onto Lee's hand as the two of them watched the rest of the group take the food and supplies out of the trunk. _What if someone else dies?_

"Lee, there's a hoodie in here," Katjaa called. "Could probably fit Clementine."

Clem looked up and shook her head, she didn't want to wear it if another kid was going to be cold this winter.

"She's good, thanks," Lee replied.

"Whatever, man, it's gonna get cold out eventually," Kenny spoke up as he took out another box.

"Hey, there were some batteries in one of those boxes," Carley walked over to Lee. "I thought they might work in your camcorder."

She got out a couple from her back pocket and held them out to Clementine. "Here, you can have some, too. For your walkie-talkie."

"Batteries, huh? Think you can handle those?" Lee teased, remembering the drugstore.

"You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?" Carley shot back, but not rudely. She handed Clem her batteries and gave some to Lee for the camcorder. Carley looked at the device and frowned. "Oh God, Lee, you're gonna want to see this."

"Oh, shit..." Lee trailed off.

Clementine was imagining talking to her parents again, but jumped when she heard a loud voice coming from the camcorder.

"JAKE, BART, LINDA, AND ALL Y'ALL FUCKIN' SICKOS FROM THE SAVE-LOTS!" a woman was screaming. "THEY CALL Y'ALL BANDITS, BUT YOU'RE FUCKIN' RAPIST MON-"

Clementine looked up with a curious frown, as the woman on the video continued. "Oh, darlin', baby, look at you. Look. At. You. Oh, you need a mama, sweetheart. We won't let them bandits get you, will we?" Was that woman talking about her?

The little girl listened to the conversation that she and Lee had had that morning about her hat. She wondered if she should tell Lilly (when she was more stable) that someone was probably spying on them.

"All thinkin' you're safe, sitting there acting like things are the way they used to be!" the woman went on. "The dead don't kill their own. It's the living you gotta be afraid of...the people I used to call friends. The people who took..." A pause. "Don't worry, little girl. Bandits got their eye on that dairy. As long as they keep getting food from them, you'll be safe. I promise."

The video cut off then, and Clementine looked up.

"Lee? What was-" the little girl began.

"It's nothing, Clementine," Lee tried to assure her, taking her hand. "Come on."

He had an angry look on his face, but why?

**\\\\**

**Well, that wraps up Episode 2: Starved For Help. Sorry this chapter was a little shorter. I don't think there will be an in-between chapter between Episodes 2 and 3. But anyways, as always, please leave a review!**

**My Episode Choices:**

**I chopped David's leg off**

**I didn't kill Jolene**

**I didn't help kill Larry**

**I spared both brothers**

**I didn't steal food**


	12. The Man On The Radio

**Thanks to Assassin's Creed Master, leafs nation, heidipoo, and newcomer kesarkuch for reviewing! And in reply to leafs nation, it may or may not have much of one. That's actually part of the reason for this story (except for no choices). :)**

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Clementine woke up and looked over at the bed beside hers, only to find that it was empty. Lee and Kenny must have left to get supplies early again. Clem got out of bed and fixed herself up for the day.

Walking outside, she found Carley on watch and Ben and Duck talking (more like Duck pestering Ben). Lilly and Katjaa were most likely still in their respective rooms. Duck turned and noticed his younger friend walk down the stairs, and he ran to her.

"Hi, Clementine!" he chirped. "Do you wanna play tag? I'll be It this time, and I'll give you a head start!"

"Okay," Clem smiled. "Come catch me, Duck!"

The two children were chided by Carley not to shout, and they were able to obey, chasing each other with only laughter escaping their lips.

It was now approximately a week after the St. Johns' incident, and things were mostly quiet except for a couple of minor incidents. Clementine was now nine years old as her birthday had been three days earlier, but the only person she had told was Ben, as she didn't really want to annoy everyone by announcing that it was her birthday.

The day before Clem's birthday, she realized that her walkie-talkie had been able to get through to someone. A man. This was one thing that she didn't tell anyone, not even Lee. She thought about the first conversation the two had had, four days ago.

_"Hello? Hell...o?" at first the walkie-talkie was breaking up, but seemed fine after a moment._

_Clementine was coloring alone when it happened. "Hello?" she spoke softly into it._

_"Are you the people who stole from my car?" the man on the other side seemed to hiss._

_The nearly nine-year-old gasped. So the car _wasn't_ abandoned! "No, no sir!" she replied innocently. "I told them not to steal...I told them! But only my friend Lee listened to me!"_

_At that, the man took on a more gentle, fatherly tone after a pause. "...What's your name, little girl?"_

_"I'm Clementine. I'm eight, but I'll be nine tomorrow."_

_"Ah, so you must be a big girl, huh?" The man was talking to her like she was five, but she didn't notice or care._

_"What's your name?" Clem inquired. _

_"I'm a friend, honey," the man replied. "Are you safe?"_

_"Yeah, my friend Lee keeps me real safe!"_

_Clementine didn't know how it happened, but she ended up telling this strange man about her lost parents, the group, and a lot of things that had been going on lately. There was a long silence, but the man spoke up again._

_"I'll help you find your parents, Clementine, sweetheart," the man assured her._

_"You will?" Clem got excited._

_"Of course. I'll arrange for us to meet, somehow..."_

It wasn't long before Duck and Clementine got bored of tag, and the two kids went off to do their own things. Clementine was on her way to color with the chalk when she saw Ben walking towards her. He gave the now nine-year-old a nervous smile as he knelt down next to her.

"Hey, Clem," he greeted awkwardly. "I, uh, found these stickers in a drawer in one of the rooms, and I thought you might want to use it to decorate that walkie-talkie of yours, or something."

Clementine took the stickers of a sun and a pink flower gratefully and gave Ben a wide smile. "Thank you, Ben!"

"Heh, you're welcome," Ben got up and strode away, his face looking afraid the moment he turned his back to the little girl.

It was well into the afternoon when Clementine heard the noise of her walkie-talkie again. She picked it up, hoping that the nice man on the radio had found her mom and dad yet. "Hello?"

_"Hi, Clemmy, how are you today?"_ the man's gravelly voice drawled out.

"I'm good," said Clementine. "Did you find my parents?"

_"Not yet, sweetheart. Where did you say they were, Savannah?"_

"Uh-huh," Clem nodded. She looked up briefly and saw that Lee and Kenny had finally returned from their nearly day-long supply hunt. "Lee just came back, can we talk again soon?."

_"Okay, Clementine, we'll chat again soon,"_ the man replied.

She nodded again. "Okay, bye!"

_"Good-bye."_

Clementine ran over to greet Lee. "You're back!" she cried. "Ben found some stickers in a drawer, and I put them on my walkie!" She held up the said device excitedly. Lee gave her a smile in greetings.

"Hey sweet pea, that's neat," Lee told her. "I'll find you in a minute."

Clem nodded and walked away with a smile still on her face. She watched at Lee walked into Lilly's first-floor room and got her walkie-talkie back out. "I'm back! I just had to say hi to Lee."

_"Back already, Clemmy?"_ the man teased lightheartedly.

"Yeah," Clementine looked over and heard arguing coming from Lilly's room. "Kenny and Lilly are arguing again."

There were some mutters that Clem couldn't understand, but then the man spoke loud enough for her to hear. _"I'm sorry to hear that, darling. Now...what was that hotel your parents always stay at? You told me it was The Marsh House, am I right?"_

"Yeah, that's it!" the little girl exclaimed.

_"Okay. I'll look out for your parents and meet them at The Marsh House, okay sweetie?"_

"WHAT I KNOW?!" Lilly was heard screaming from her room. _"I_ know that you're not above murder! I know that somebody has been _stealing_ our supplies! That's right, STEALING! And I know that the list of people I can trust gets SMALLER EVERY DAY! Now everybody _get out!" _

Clementine jumped and stared in the room's direction, watching as Lee, Kenny, and Katjaa exited the room.

_"Clementine?"_ the man asked.

"What?" Clem spoke into the walkie-talkie. "Oh...okay."

_"Wonderful. Shall we continue or talk tomorrow?"_

"Yeah, tomorrow sounds good," Clementine responded.

_"I'm going to go now, I'll let you know when I've found your parents,"_ the man added. _"Good-bye."_

"Bye!" Clem exclaimed, and put away her walkie-talkie. She went over to make some more drawings with some chalk. Maybe even do leaf-rubbings, like her teacher had shown her. She had been coloring alone lately, since Duck was starting to get bored of coloring, he had told her.

"Hey, Clementine, guess what!" said boy ran over to her after a couple of minutes.

"What?" Clem looked up.

"Lee and I are playing detective!" Duck cried. "I'm Dick Grayson...that's Robin."

"He colored with me yesterday," Clementine pointed out with a smile, holding up a piece of paper.

"Coloring is boring!" Duck pouted, but only for a mere moment. His happy expression returned, and then he ran off. "Bye!"

The nine-year-old gave him a strange look for a moment, shaking her head. She then shrugged and continued her leaf-rubbing until she saw Lee kneeling down beside her little table. "Hey, Clementine."

"Hey Lee!" she cried, always happy to see him.

"You didn't accidentally break a flashlight, did you?"

Clementine frowned. "No. Did Duck say I did?"

"No. Did, uh, Duck break the flashlight?"

"I don't think so. He's just always blaming me for stuff."

"Like what?" Lee inquired.

"Putting a bug on his pillow!" Clementine made a false-disgusted face.

"Did you do that?"

Clementine smiled, remembering how she had run out of the room and heard Duck's scream only a few days prior. "Yes."

"What's that you're working on, Clem?"

"It's called a leaf-rubbing," Clementine explained. "My teacher Miss Moore showed us how to do 'em when we went to the Botanical Garden once!" She proceeded to lift the leaf and paper, and held it up for Lee to see. "See, it's the same! Umm...kind of."

"That's really something," Lee replied, interested.

"I'll make one for you, too!"

After a pause, Lee spoke again. "Do you like it here?" he wanted to know.

"I don't...like it here."

"Do you want to leave?"

"Where are we going?" Clem asked.

"Somewhere else."

"I don't know," Clementine thought about it. "Maybe if I knew where?"

"Yeah, that'd be a good thing to know," said Lee. "I'll talk to you later, Clem." He got up.

"Okay." Clementine went back to her leaf-rubbing, wanting to get started on the one she would make for Lee. She also wanted to make a couple for Ed and Diana, when that nice man on the radio found them.

She looked up and saw Lee talking to Carley, who was giving him a smile. Much to her surprise (and delight), Carley walked over and planted a kiss on his cheek, whispering something in his ear. Clementine grinned, she now wanted to draw them holding hands later.

Not long later, she noticed Lee practically pulling Kenny to the side, telling him something that she couldn't hear. He looked surprised, then pissed, and then there was an unreadable expression as he went to sit back down next to Katjaa.

Lee walked back over to Clementine's little table, and knelt back down.

"Clem, I need to talk to you for a second."

"Okey-dokey," the little girl nodded.

Lee seemed to think about it, whether or not he should tell her. But that was only for a moment.

"The day you and I met, I was in a car accident," he reminded her.

"I remember, your leg was bleeding," Clementine pointed out.

"The car I was in was a police car, and I was on my way to jail for committing a crime."

Clem's eyes widened slightly, and she looked down. She remembered Carley saying something in the drugstore about knowing who he was and what he had done. That was when she realized that this was what she had been talking about.

"I need to tell you now, because I don't want you to hear it any other way," Lee informed her.

"Okay," said Clementine. She fully understood now.

"Do you...have anything to say?"

"I don't think so," Clem replied truthfully.

"You can, uh, go on back to your things," Lee told her, getting up.

Clementine nodded and continued on with what she was doing. When Lee was gone, she picked up her walkie-talkie and tried to get in contact with the man again. She wasn't sure if she should tell him about Lee. "Hello?"

There was no reply. Clementine tried a couple more times, but to no avail. The man was probably too far away now, if he was heading to Savannah.

She noticed Lee approaching her for a third time. "Clem, do you have any pink chalk?"

"No, it's gone somewhere," the little girl frowned. She'd wanted to draw some nice flowers with chalk earlier, but couldn't find the pink one.

"Hmm..."

"Do you want blue?" Clem asked, hoping that Lee would color with her again.

"No, no, it's okay," Lee got up.

_Aww, oh well,_ she thought.

"Psst...Lee!" Duck whispered beckoning the thirty-seven-year-old man over.

Clementine watched Lee and Duck go towards the gate, and after a high-five and firmly telling Duck to stay behind, Lee went behind the gate. Clem wondered what he was going to find out there, hopefully the pink chalk.

The moment he disappeared into Lilly's room was when the pandemonium began.

"WHO THE _FUCK_ THOUGHT IT WOULD BE OKAY TO FUCKIN' TAKE OUR STUFF, HUH?"

Several masked bandits suddenly entered the motel with guns in hand. Katjaa and Kenny stood up with their arms out, and one of them grabbed Duck, dragging him over, refusing to let go despite Kenny's loud demands.

Clementine gasped and tried to run, but another bandit, a woman, grabbed her and sat her on her knees next to Duck. Now, the children, Ben, Katjaa, Kenny, and Carley were on the knees, all of them having guns pointed to their heads.

"Y'ALL BETTER GET YOUR ASSES OUT HERE!" the same bandit continued as Carley dropped down. "WE AIN'T FUCKING AROUND!"

_Lee! Lee, where are you?!_ Clementine thought, truly scared.

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**And there's the first chapter of Episode 3, Long Road Ahead. Please review! :) **


	13. Cold-Blooded Killings

**Thanks to all that reviewed!**

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"Enough of this bullshit!" one of the bandits was yelling. "Drew, start putting your boot to these doors!"

"Yeah!" the bandit known as Drew exclaimed.

At that moment, Lee came out. Clementine was grateful to see him, but she couldn't move from her spot beside Duck if she wanted to live.

"Hold it, asshole!" the main bandit held his gun out to Lee.

"Take it easy," Lee tried to reason, holding up his arms. "We have more supplies. We can keep the deal going."

"Too late, shithead! We ain't giving second chances!"

_What's going on?_ Clementine thought. Nobody stole anything!...Right?

"I-It was a mix-up!" Lee explained. "We'll make it worth your while!"

"I'm listenin'..."

"What will it take to reach a deal?" Lee asked.

"About twice as much as you been givin' us!" the bandit replied, his gun still pointed at Lee.

"You got it. Done!"

The bandit lowered his gun. "Is that so? Well, I suppose we oughta hash out some terms, then!"

"I don't like no hash," another bandit chimed in.

"Man, shut up or I'll-" But the bandit didn't get to finish his sentence, as he was then shot clear through the skull. That's when everyone else took their opportunity to run away and hide.

Carley was able to shoot two bandits, but ran out of ammo. Lee aimed for another one, but missed. The same bandit whistled, and much to Clem's horror, more and more of them poured out of the woods across the street.

Clementine hid behind some boxes and such with Katjaa and Duck, as Lee shot and killed some of the bandits trying to attack him. They fell dead, one by one. Soon, it was safe to run to the RV, and Clementine did just that.

"Katjaa! Hurry, come on!" Lee shouted, beckoning them over.

"LEE!" Clementine screamed, running to him. He knelt down and gave her a hug, both glad that the other was safe.

"Clem, get inside the RV!" Lee instructed. They let go. "It's gonna be okay. Go!"

Clementine obeyed, and watched with horror as a walker approached Katjaa and Duck and tackled them down, trying to bite them. But Lee was quick enough to shoot the walker dead, and Kenny ran out of the RV to collect his wife and son.

"Shit!" Carley cried, grabbing her gun. "Clementine, stay here!"

Clementine obeyed, but was still worried for Lee. She could hear more gunshots before Carley and Lee returned, and Lilly scrambled in just as Kenny was able to get the RV started. Clem held on to Lee's arm as Kenny floored the vehicle away from the Travelier Motel.

"Kat, Jesus, are you okay?" Kenny questioned.

"I'm fine!" his wife responded. She had Duck, who appeared to be sleeping, on her lap.

Ben held his head in his arms. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit..." He got up. "I'm sorry."

"Everything's fine, Ben," Carley tried to reassure him.

"Everything's not fine," Lilly argued. "We need to figure out how this happened. We just lost everything."

Clementine sat in her seat, listening intently to the conversation before her.

"Well, we're lucky as shit to have this RV!" Kenny called.

"And nobody died," Carley pitched in.

"Kat's head is split open!"

"I'm fine!" Katjaa repeated.

"Somebody in here caused this," Lilly hissed.

"Settle down back there, the bandits have had our number for weeks!" Kenny reminded her.

It was true that there had been attacks to the motor inn, especially after the St. Johns' incident, but nothing quite as major as what had just occurred back there.

"This is different," said Lilly. "Somebody was working with them. Whoever it was was slipping them our meds. They didn't get their last package, so they attacked!"

"Calm down back there! That's nuts!" Kenny threw over his shoulder.

"Lee found a bag of supplies hidden behind a wall," Lilly continued. Carley rolled her eyes.

"It's true," Lee admitted.

"So...Carley," Lilly carried on. "Is there something you want to say?" Did Lilly seem to think that Carley was the traitor?

"Please," Carley retorted.

"We have to get it _out_ of you, then."

"Back _off."_

"You're in _no_ position to make demands," Lilly warned her.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you're just pointing fingers!"

"I didn't just come up with this," Lilly shot back. "I've had my suspicions."

"Really not the best time, Lilly!" Kenny shot back.

"If not now, when? Look at what just happened!" Lilly snapped.

"Carley's trustworthy!" Lee interjected. "She's not a traitor, Lilly!"

_"Thank_ you, Lee," Carley turned towards the older man.

"She can fight her own battles," Lilly argued. She looked between Carley and Ben. "Unless there's something going on here that implicates you both."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Carley scoffed.

"Like, look, maybe we should...vote, or something like that!" Ben spoke up.

"What?" Lilly asked.

"Just...look. Carley's a stand-up gal, and, maybe this was all just a mistake!"

"We need to look at the facts!" Carley added. "Let's just calm down, we'll eat, and we'll deal with it!"

"Yeah, let's just do that!" Ben cried.

By now, Clementine couldn't listen to anymore. She slumped down and placed her hands over her ears. Carley wasn't some traitor, she would almost always look after Duck and Clem when she wasn't on watch, when Katjaa wasn't doing it.

There was a bit more arguing between Carley, Lilly, and Ben when there was a huge bump coming from the RV.

"SHIT!" a scream came from Kenny.

"What's going on out there?" Lilly called.

"I hit something, we gotta stop."

"Alright, we can deal with this now, then."

"Kenny, is it safe?" Lee asked.

"Should be."

"Alright, everybody out!" Lilly ordered.

"Lilly..." Lee spoke in a warning tone.

"Out."

The RV stopped, and out stepped Lee, Ben, Carley, and Lilly, with Kenny getting out of the driver's seat to check out the mess. Clementine got up and stood at the steps, still trying to put together what was going on.

Lilly crouched down to look under the RV. "Kenny, the RV has some surface damage, but there's a walker trapped underneath."

Kenny looked under as she got up. "Goddamn it. Everyone keep your eyes peeled."

"You know what, we shouldn't just kick you out," Lilly decided, mainly talking to Carley. "We should hear what everybody thinks."

"I think you should chill out!" Ben cried.

"I'm not gonna take this!" Carley added. "You can push Ben around, but you can't push _me_ around!"

"I'm really sorry you feel that way," Lilly replied sarcastically. "I'm really starting to think maybe it was both of you."

"There's no way it was Carley! It was somebody else!" Lee argued. "It could've even been someone sneaking into our camp!"

"That's ridiculous, that's what you think?" Lilly retorted.

"Yes!"

"Okay, fine then. Kenny?"

"I don't know! Fuck!" Kenny called. "Just...stop, would ya?"

"Well, your vote counts for you and Katjaa!"

"We don't need all these _votes!"_ Ben pleaded. "What do I have to do for you to _trust_ me? I'll do ANYTHING! I-I'll do watches for months."

"The hell you will!"

"He's broken, Lilly!" Lee argued.

"I know that! Do we need more evidence than this?" Lilly shot back.

"Fuck evidence! Stop treating him like this!" Carley shouted.

"Shut up, Carley! Ugh, I've heard enough out of you! Kenny, what's it gonna be?"

"Just give me a damn minute!" the mustached man yelled back.

"Ben, you have until that walker is dealt with to tell me that it was _her_ and not you!" Lilly warned, pointing at Carley.

"Stop this, you're torturing him!" Carley tried to defend the teenager.

"Lilly, lay off!" Lee added.

"Please, let's just get back into the RV!" Ben cried.

"That's not happening!"

That's when Carley made her major defense. "You think you're some tough bitch, don't you? Like nothing can hurt you. But you're just a scared little girl, get the fuck over it! Take a page from Lee's book and try _helping_ somebody for once!"

Kenny, finally getting the walker out from under the vehicle, stomped its head in. "Now, what the fuck's the problem-"

But he was cut off when Lilly got out her gun and shot Carley point blank. Clementine's mouth hung open, and all was silent for a few seconds.

An angry Lee grabbed Lilly and pinned her to the RV, having the upper hand here. "DROP IT!" he ordered.

Lilly was surprised, but she obeyed. They could all hear Carley's dying breaths as she laid there on the road, until eventually her breathing ceased altogether. Clementine began to shake, she couldn't believe that Lilly had just straight-up murdered Carley in cold blood.

"Holy fuck..." Kenny muttered, as Ben squatted down next to the reporter.

"KENNY! What's happening?" Katjaa called from inside.

"Keep Duck away from the windows! Jesus CHRIST!"

Clementine said nothing, she could only stare sadly at Carley's body. She had considered the two of them to be friends, and now this had happened.

"GET IN! We're leaving this crazy bitch!" Kenny ordered.

"She couldn't be trusted, Lee...I swear...please," Lilly's tone was much softer now.

"You're not coming with us," Lee replied, letting go of her.

"I'll die out here!" Lilly pleaded.

"I don't care."

"You're a murderer, Lilly! We can't have you with us!" Kenny cried.

"I'M a murderer?! You've had Lee with you this _whole_ time!" Lilly reminded him.

"I don't care what he did before! If we keep you with us, how long until you get me?"

"I was trying to protect all of us!" Lilly insisted, her breaths shaky. "I don't have anything left."

Kenny was silent for a moment, and then turned away. "Get in, Lee. Let's go, you guys."

Clementine gave Lilly one final sad look and trudged up the stairs, trying to put together an all-new situation. She sat on one of the seats as Ben and Lee entered, following behind her, feeling sad and depressed.

"Lee, a word, please?" Katjaa called from up front.

Lee turned to Clementine. "You okay?"

"Katjaa needs you for something," the little girl responded sadly. She didn't want to talk right now.

Lee walked over to the front, and the nine-year-old turned to look at Ben, who was sitting at the table with his head in his hands. He looked like he was going to cry, but if he was, then he was trying to fight back the tears.

She turned away and began to feel tired, but she wanted to see Lee before she went to sleep. After a minute, he came back out and sat next to her. She leaned up against him, and he put an arm around her shoulder.

There was a pause. Then... "Duck is bitten."

Clementine looked up, not sure if she had heard her guardian correctly. "Huh?"

"He got bit by a walker trying to escape the motel," Lee repeated.

Clem looked to the front, now feeling even worse. "I...don't feel good...what about Carley?"

"There was no time for a burial," Lee explained.

"Walkers?"

"Yeah, horrible."

The two sat in silence for a minute, and then Lee spoke up again. "I'm glad I have you."

Clementine couldn't help but smile lightly. "Me too."

She paused, and then began to tell him something. "I heard you outside my treehouse that day, and thought about dropping a hammer on your head."

"What? Why?" Lee asked curiously.

"In case you were up to no good," Clementine remembered. "Before you, there was this other guy. He was yelling and trying to get into my house. He wanted to take the TV and tried to break the glass door with a rock."

Except that he was actually hitting the house instead.

"Then some walkers came and scared him away," Clem finished.

Lee smiled. "The door was open."

"He was dumb."

There was no more conversation, and Lee and Clementine fell asleep after an "eventful" night.

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**Okay, to make it clear, I'm actually a fan of Lilly and I hope that she comes back in No Going Back. To say the least, I basically left her as punishment for killing Carley. I think it would be cool to see her in Wellington along with Christa. :)**

**Anyways, as always, please leave a review! **


	14. The Train

**Thanks to Assassin's Creed Master and Rossana's Mind, as well as heidipoo and kesarkuch for reviewing! And in reply to the Rossana's Mind, I'm glad you can understand. XD**

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Clementine awoke the next morning to the RV stopping. She yawned and got up, walking over to the front near where Duck and Katjaa were. There was a train that was blocking the RV, leaving the group stuck where they were.

"We'd better go see what the problem is," Katjaa muttered, more to herself than to Clementine.

So Clem got her purple backpack and exited the RV, and was shocked and terrified to see an ever-so-weak Duck clutching to his mother. The three of them walked over to what looked like a camp area. Clementine took a seat on a log near Kenny.

"Why don't you and I go look around?" Ben suggested of Lee.

"Yeah, everyone else relax," Lee announced. He knelt down beside Clementine. "Clem, stay close to Kenny and Kat, okay?"

Clementine nodded.

"Lee, if you come across anything to drink, if there's a dining car or something, I think Duck's a bit dehydrated," Katjaa told Lee.

"It's a freighter, hon," said Kenny. He turned to Lee. "Be careful in there."

"What, you think there might be something dangerous inside of an abandoned locomotive?" Lee threw over his shoulder. "Hadn't crossed my mind."

Lee walked away, and it was mostly quiet except for Duck's occasional coughing, which made Clementine flinch every time. A few minutes later, she and Kenny jumped slightly when they heard an engine begin to roar. Kenny got up and smiled in satisfaction.

"Holy shit!" he cried, all but running over to the front of the train.

Clementine turned around and watched as the mustached man took a seat at the conductor's chair, and Ben appeared to be dragging a dead body with a dented head out of the front of the train. He talked to Kenny for a moment, and then walked over to sit down with a remorseful look on his face.

"Are you okay?" Clem wanted to know as he passed her.

"Huh? Oh, um, yeah, I'm fine, Clem, don't worry," Ben reassured her, giving her a smile. But the look in his blue eyes indicated that that wasn't really the case.

Another minute or two passed, and then Lee walked over, holding a water bottle out for Duck, which Katjaa took appreciatively. She and Lee had a short conversation, but Duck was so weak that he could barely lift his head off of his mother's shoulder.

This was terrible. Duck should've been running around talking everyone's ears off, maybe playing a game of tag or something with Clementine, not being as sick as he was, practically dying at the tender age of ten.

Clementine was broken out of her thoughts when Lee came to check up on her. "Hey sweet pea, you okay out here?"

The little girl turned around and looked at the sickly Duck, then back to Lee. "I don't think Duck feels good."

"Me neither," Lee agreed as he got up. Clementine watched as he headed for the direction of the RV. He disappeared inside the vehicle for slightly less than a minute before reappearing empty-handed, but he had probably put what he needed in his pocket.

It turned out that Clem was right, Lee must have found what he needed, because the train's engine started up again.

But as soon as Lee was gone, an older man wearing a dirty yellow jacket approached them slowly. "Hey, folks."

"Who-Who are you?" Ben stuttered, standing up with his arms out.

The old man turned to him. "Relax, son, I ain't gonna hurt ya. The name's Chuck, Charles if you're fancy."

"Where did you come from?" Clementine asked curiously, standing up.

"This here train, I've been livin' in it for awhile," the old man, Chuck, explained. He looked down at Clem. "What's your name?"

"I'm Clementine!" the little girl piped up.

"Ah, Clementine, sweet name," Chuck commented. He gestured over to Kat and Duck with a nod. "And the two sittin' there?"

"My name is Katjaa, and this is my son, Duck," the blonde-haired woman gave Chuck a light smile.

"Nice to meet y'all," said Chuck. He fished around in his pockets and pulled out some candy. Not those crappy little hard pieces, Clementine noticed, but the pieces that actually looked delicious. "Would you like some candy?"

"Yeah!" Clem cried, temporarily forgetting all about Duck. Chuck handed her and Ben some candy, and he walked over to Katjaa. "Ma'am, would your boy like a piece?"

Clementine looked over, and she swore she could see Duck smile very lightly. Katjaa seemed to notice, and nodded. "Yeah, I think he does."

"Thank you, Chuck!" Clem exclaimed, and sat down on the log, taking out her candy and popping it in her mouth. The candy was a strawberry flavor, or so it seemed like. But nonetheless, it tasted really good, better than what kind of candies her grandparents used to give her.

"Is your son feelin' alright?" Chuck asked Katjaa.

"He's...sick right now," Katjaa didn't want to reveal her son's bite.

"Hmm, sorry to hear that."

Chuck glanced back at the train. "So, the rest of your crew, they good too?"

"The man in the ball cap is my husband, and the other one is our friend, so yes," Katjaa pointed out.

"Lee's trying to get the train fixed," Clementine added.

"Hmm, well, this train has been my home ever since this whole mess started," Chuck explained.

"Will you come with us?"

"Well, I ain't got much of a choice," Chuck replied gruffly with a stifled chuckle. He turned towards his boxcar and told the group that he had to go check on some things in there, and he headed off. Clem hoped that Lee and Kenny would like him, he seemed nice.

She watched as Chuck got out of the boxcar a minute later, followed by Lee, and walked up to the latter. "You met Chuck!"

"Yeah, I did," Lee replied, walking over to the old man.

"It's so nice to meet someone normal for a change," said Katjaa.

"He gave us candy! Ben, too!" Clem continued, sitting back down next to Chuck.

Ben looked up almost remorsefully as he chewed on his candy.

"Welcome," Lee greeted Chuck.

"Thank you," the old man smiled slightly.

"You met Kenny?"

"Sure did. Man shares my love of the road."

"That's for certain."

Duck coughed, and Katjaa patted him on the back. Chuck walked over and knelt down in front of them.

"I'm awfully sorry your son's not feeling good," he said again.

"I appreciate your concern," Katjaa smiled lightly.

"Well, with a little TLC, I'm sure he'll be fit as a fiddle in no time. And I can offer y'all whatever I've got, although it ain't much."

"Thank you, we'd like to do the same," Katjaa replied.

"Why don't we hold off on, uhh..." Kenny spoke up.

"Stay with us, we'd like the company," Katjaa offered.

Kenny looked uncertain, and began to walk away. Chuck picked up the guitar that he had with him and, much to Clementine's delight, began playing. It had been so long since she'd listened to music of any kind, and it was nice to hear it again.

Lee walked away and came back with Kenny, who spoke up. "We don't got much left, so just gather whatever you have. Let's go."

Everyone got up and started to board the train.

"Want a ride?" Kenny offered Chuck.

"Well, it sounds like you're taking my home," said Chuck.

"That's a yes, then."

"Haven't found anything better for keeping the creepy-crawlies out than that boxcar," the old man almost retorted as he entered his makeshift home.

Clementine sadly approached Lee and Kenny. "Duck's sick." She was mostly talking to Kenny.

"Get on the train, Clementine," Kenny snapped at her in a tone that was not to be disobeyed.

The little girl obliged and went to stand by the other side, and tried not to listen to the discussion just outside.

An hour passed, and Duck was getting sicker and sicker. Clementine was huddled with her knees to her chest, looking in the older boy's direction. Lee and Chuck stood behind her, looking out.

"Got to be hard on ya, eh?" Chuck asked. "Three adults taking care of three kids...no disrespect, son." He turned his attention to Ben, who looked pretty offended at being called a kid.

"There were more of us," Lee pointed out.

"Dead get 'em?"

"Yes."

Duck began coughing up blood, and Katjaa held him tighter. "Lee! Lee, I need you, right now. I need you to go get Ken."

"What's-"

"Would you get that off his face? My hands are full here."

Clementine watched as Lee wiped what appeared to be blood off of Duck's face. She bit her lip, it didn't look like Duck was getting any better.

"He's out of time," Katjaa explained. "We need to stop this train."

"Okay," Lee obliged.

"Please."

Lee exited the boxcar and went to the front of the train. There wasn't much noise - aside from Duck's coughing - and eventually, Lee had apparently gotten Kenny to stop the train, no matter how stubborn he probably was about it.

Katjaa got out of the train, Duck still lying on its floor. The little boy was now too weak to even move any part of his body.

"The boy's been bit, in case you haven't figured that out," Kenny told Chuck.

Chuck said nothing, only looked away sadly.

"Take as long as you need," Lee instructed.

"There ain't no time left to take," Kenny pointed out. "What are we gonna do?"

"We can't allow him to become one of those things," Katjaa said.

"But what if...what if he doesn't?" Kenny was in denial of the situation.

"Kenny, I love you very much. I love our son more than life itself." By now, the woman was almost crying. "I _need_ you to hear me. What you're saying, that he may not turn, is foolish."

"But-"

"No."

"There's...come on, Kat!" Kenny tried to beg.

"If you think of one, let me know."

"Isn't there a pill, something that...we can just give him?"

"Stop it."

"He can just...drift off to sleep, right hon? I mean, Jesus, this is our _son!"_ Kenny cried.

"I know!" Katjaa protested. "But it's..._here,"_ she pointed at her head, "or nothing."

"Well, fuck, just...who, then? You want me to-"

"I'll do it," Lee interrupted.

"No. It should be a parent," Katjaa replied.

"No parent should have to do something like this."

"Lee's right, Kat," Kenny agreed. "We can say our good-byes, and...just let that be it."

"I don't know..." Katjaa trailed off. "Lee, you'd be doing this family a great service. Why don't we take him into the forest, so Clementine doesn't have to see?"

Clementine looked away sadly, she was beginning to really understand what was happening.

"Yeah," Kenny agreed.

"Give us a moment...to say good-bye?" Katjaa asked Lee.

"Of course," the latter responded.

Katjaa felt Duck's forehead, then gathered him into her arms again. Clementine watched as the family walked out of sight into the forest, Duck not being able to move.

"What's happening?" Clementine asked Lee, jumping down from the train.

"Duck is dying," Lee replied.

"I know...what are you doing?"

"I'm putting him out of his misery."

"Oh..." Clementine would remember Lee's honesty.

"Yeah...look, Clem, things will-"

But he was interrupted by an early gunshot. "What the-"

"NOOO!" a loud yell came from Kenny.

"Ben, take Clementine into the train!" Lee instructed. "Go, it'll be fine!"

Lee ran into the woods, and Clementine watched him go before Ben lifted her up and placed her back into the seat.

"What's going on? What happened?" Clem inquired, as if Ben or Chuck knew.

"Oh my God, oh my God..." Ben began panicking, walking around the boxcar with his hands on his head.

The three were wondering what exactly had happened when Lee and Kenny returned without both Duck and Katjaa. Kenny just glanced at the group with tears running down his face before solemnly heading back to the front.

"Lee? Wh-What happened?" Clementine wanted to know. "Where's Katjaa?"

Lee sighed sadly and sat beside her. "Katjaa's dead, Clementine," he explained. "She...she couldn't take Duck dying, so she wanted to be with him. Do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

Clem nodded, her eyes downcast. Katjaa had killed herself so that she could be with Duck. "Uh-huh."

Lee got up. "I'll leave you alone for a little while, sweet pea, okay?"

"Yeah."

The little girl tried to compose herself after Lee left, sitting by the other side and looking out the window as she wondered how much longer this mess would last.

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**There's the end of that. I felt really bad for Kenny here, and I think we all did. :( But I think you guys know who we get to meet in the next chapter. ;) So please leave a review, and have a great day/night/whatever time you're reading this!**


	15. Training For Survival

**Thank you to all that reviewed!**

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All was quiet in the moving boxcar for over an hour. The place felt rather empty without Katjaa and Duck, hell, it even felt empty without Carley and Lilly. It felt like the group was diminishing quickly, one person at a time.

Clementine and Chuck were the only two in the boxcar, as Ben had gone outside to vent by himself, and Lee had gone to the front to console Kenny (which probably wasn't helping. Clementine heard Chuck sigh, and she looked up.

Chuck looked at the nine-year-old ruefully. "I'm sorry about your friend, darlin'. And his mom."

"Yeah, me too," Clem looked away, continuing to stare out the train.

The old man sighed. "I might as well get it off my chest. Been thinkin' about it since I met y'all awhile ago."

"What-What do you mean?"

Chuck walked over and sat next to her. "As much as I hate to tell you this, hon, I gotta say it. You're going to end up like that other kid there eventually."

Clementine quickly turned her head, not sure if she'd heard him correctly. "What?"

"I mean, what happened to that boy is gonna happen to you, one way or another," Chuck looked away and squeezed his eyes shut. "I've seen too many kids die at them monsters' hands, I'm sorry, but...there's no hope for you."

Clementine gasped softly. "I..."

"I'm sorry, Clementine," Chuck repeated himself. His face and eyes told her that he really was sincere.

The little girl didn't even notice when Chuck got up and left the boxcar, leaving her alone. Why did Chuck say she was going to die? It seemed clear that he had no faith, no hope, that the world would return back to its normal state.

"You want to talk?" Clem hadn't even heard Lee come up to her.

"Uh-uh," Clementine answered. She just wanted time to herself.

"You, uh, understand what happened?" Lee repeated his question from earlier.

"Yes."

"Okay. What are you thinking about?"

"What Chuck said." She just couldn't grasp the thought of dying slowly and painfully, like Duck had.

"What'd Chuck say?" Lee inquired.

"That what happened to Duck would happen to me."

"What?! The fuck he did!" Lee growled dangerously.

"Swear."

"Sorry. I'm gonna go talk some sense into him," Lee was angry.

"Don't be mad," Clementine told him, not really paying attention.

And then she was alone again. She jumped slightly when she heard the buzzing of her walkie-talkie next to her, and picked it up.

_"Clementine? Clemmy?"_ the man asked on the other side.

"Hello? I'm here," Clem spoke into the radio.

_"I just wanted to tell you that I'm almost to Savannah, and then I'm going on a mass hunt for your parents, okay honey?"_

Clementine managed a small smile. "Really? I can't wait to see them! We had to leave the motor inn after some...stuff happened." She paused, her smile fading. "Some people died, and we left Lilly behind."

The stranger knew exactly who she was talking about, because she had told them most of what was going on.

There was some movement in the background, and Clementine thought she could hear an angry swear or two before the man spoke again. _"I'm awfully sorry to hear that, sweetheart. But I'm glad you're coming to Savannah, that way we can meet up easier."_

Clementine turned and saw Lee coming towards the entrance to the boxcar. "Okay. I have to go now, Lee's coming."

_"Alright. Bye-bye, darling."_

"Bye."

She put the walkie down and continued to stare out into the distance when Lee approached her again after taking something out of the nearby backpack.

"Hey, Clem."

"Did you talk to him?" the nine-year-old asked.

"I did," Lee replied as he sat down beside her. "He had some, uh, he explained himself and made some good points. Look, we're not gonna let anything bad happen to you. But there are some precautions we have to take."

"Okay, yeah, that makes sense." Clementine didn't really feel all that sad anymore.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," Lee assured her.

"Okay, what should we do?"

"Well, we're going to figure out a plan for when we get to Savannah, teach you how to protect yourself, and, uh, tidy you up a little, so you can't get grabbed so easily."

"I'd like that," Clem admitted with a smile.

"Good...what do you think about Chuck?"

"I don't know."

"Me neither. He might be an okay guy, though."

"You think?" Clementine wondered.

"We'll keep an open mind about him," said Lee. "He's probably had it pretty rough."

There was silence for a full minute, before Lee spoke up again. "What a crappy day."

"The crappiest," Clementine agreed. "Crap" wasn't really a swear word to her, so it was okay to say it.

"If three months ago, if I'd known what you'd be seeing, I don't know if I would've taken you with me."

"I probably would've run out of food," the little girl pointed out.

"You damn near starved with me."

"I'm glad I came with you," Clem replied.

Lee got up and looked down at her a little firmly. "You need to know how to protect yourself."

Clementine got up as well, a little confused. "Like hiding, or running away? Got it!"

"I mean with one of these," Lee said, pulling out Carley's Glock 17.

Clem must've given him a slightly scared look, because Lee started explaining to her, "First, don't be afraid of it. It's just a thing. Take it. But know where your finger is all the time, and don't put it on the trigger unless you want to hurt someone." He loaded it and handed it over.

"Okay." The little girl took the gun. She nodded. "Okay."

"See? It's not scary," Lee smiled down at her.

"It's heavy!"

"You'll get stronger," Lee reassured her, bending down to her level. "To aim, you look right down the top, through that notch." Clementine turned around, and he continued. "Line up the side of your aim with the target."

"Is there anything else I should know?" Clementine asked.

"When you're ready to shoot, make sure you're not breathing too hard, and then hold your breath right when you pull the trigger," Lee instructed.

"Like, when I'm swimming?"

"No, just for a quick second. I found that if I did that, I was a lot more accurate. It's tough, but it will help."

"I can do that," Clem nodded. "Okay."

Lee walked over and pulled out an empty wine bottle, setting it on top of a box. Clementine was already trying to aim, and Lee walked behind her.

"Good. Don't lock your elbows," he instructed, loosening her said body part. "Okay, let's take your first shot. Squeeze the trigger smoothly, and I'll cover your ears. Nice and easy."

"Nice and easy..." Clementine repeated slowly. She fired a shot, which missed and caused her to squeak. "EEK!"

"You okay?"

"My hands hurt, I don't like this," she folded her arms.

"Let's stick with it, okay?"

"Do I have to?" Clementine moaned.

"Yeah, you do," Lee responded, getting her back into position and unlocking her elbows again, then covering her ears. That was then when they began their training for survival.

"A bit to the right," Lee instructed.

Clem obliged.

"A little higher..."

Much to her surprise, Clementine was able to shoot the bottle, shattering it into pieces.

"I got it!" she cried.

"Excellent, good shot!" Lee complimented.

He walked over and placed another bottle in the same spot, and the training continued. Clementine shot another bullet, but missed this time.

"Okay, aim a little bit more to the left," Lee continued teaching. "Now aim a little higher..."

Once again, the glass shattered.

"There you go, nice!"

Lee placed a third bottle onto the box, but he didn't even have to say anything when Clementine was able to shoot it spot-on, glass flying everywhere.

"I did it!" Clem yelled.

"Yeah, you did, good job!"

"I just pretended they were walker heads," she informed.

"Good, just like you should," Lee replied.

"They're not walkers, though."

"No, far from it. But you know how these things work now. We'll graduate you to walkers one day."

"Okay. I feel good!" Clementine responded truthfully, a smile across her lips.

"Good. Not so scary, huh?"

"Nuh-uh!" Clem handed him the gun and went to sit back down. When Lee sat next to her again, she explained how she felt. "My hands hurt, and my ears have a noise in them. Like, _eeeee!"_ She squealed slightly.

"You'll get used to it," said Lee. "So, you're...probably not gonna like this."

"Oh no, what happened?"

"Nothing. We have to talk about your hair. It's not safe."

Clem gave him a slight glare. "That's not nice."

"What?"

"Are you saying it smells?"

"No," Lee smiled.

"Because it does, kinda."

Lee shook his head, and continued. "Do you remember when Andy St. John grabbed it, and I got mad?"

"Yeah!" Clementine replied. How could she forget?

"Well, that could happen again. And if it's a walker, well...we need to trim it."

"...Just a trim, right?"

"I need to cut it short enough so that it can't get grabbed."

Clem sighed. "Okay."

"Mind if we do this now?" Lee asked.

"I guess not..."

"Don't mope. It's a good thing."

Clementine got into position, and Lee started cutting her hair. "Do you know how to do this?"

"How hard can it be?"

"I'm going to look like a boy," Clem moaned.

"Shush now!" Lee cried as he turned her head.

"So you did kill someone, before."

"Yeah."

"I'm glad you finally told me."

"Me too."

"You've killed lots of things now, it doesn't even matter," Clementine continued.

"Killing is bad, no matter what," Lee replied.

"But you do it now to protect yourself, and to protect me!"

"Doesn't make it good."

"But you have to."

"I do it because it's necessary," Lee informed her. "And walkers aren't people."

After a minute, he spoke up again. "Okay, I think I'm about done. I can probably tie these back with something."

"Here, I have some hair thingies!" Clem fished into her dress pocket and pulled the items out.

"You do?" Lee asked, taking them and placing them in her hair.

"Uh, yeah. Lilly gave them to me for sleeping." Clementine remember the short conversation that she and Lilly had shared at the motor inn, the same day that she and Lee had looked at the sky and talked about the stars.

"There, all set!" Lee announced.

Clementine felt her hair, feeling strange about how short it was, and stuck her lower lip out in a pout.

"Does it look dumb?"

"Ha, no, you look cute, and a lot harder to grab," Lee replied, rubbing her head. He reached down and handed her her special hat. Clementine looked at her hat for a moment or two before placing it back on her head.

"I need to look around for a few things for when we get to Savannah," Lee informed her.

"That would be good, I hope it's safe there."

"God, me too." Lee got up and exited the boxcar.

Not a lot of time passed. Clementine glanced out and noticed Lee and Ben talking, Lee having a serious expression on his face. He then came in and sat down next to Clem again, ready to sort out plans.

"Hey, Clem," he greeted as he sat back down.

"Hi."

"I want to talk about Savannah."

"Me too."

"And what we're going to do when we get there," Lee continued. He got out a map of Savannah that he had pocketed, and Clementine scooted over so that he could place it between them. "We don't know what to expect - the city could be bad, or totally under control."

"The thing is," Lee continued, "you and I, we're a team, you know? And a team needs a plan. Aside from everyone else, when this train stops, you and I should know exactly what we're doing."

"A plan. I like it," said Clementine.

"Ha, good. I think we should look for your parents."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We need to know if they're okay, and if they're not, what happened to them."

"I'm sure they're okay!" Clementine smiled.

"Yeah, it's best to stay positive."

"That's what Dad always says," she remembered.

"Let's look at the map," Lee instructed. "If we can figure out where they were, we can start there. It looks like we'll come right through town if there's nothing on the tracks to hold us up. Now, we've got a good chunk of Savannah here, what do you think?"

"They always stay in the same place when they go there," Clementine informed him. "It's uh...hmm..." She always seemed to forget the name of the hotel.

"Hey, don't worry, we'll figure it out," Lee reassured her. "Have you ever been there?"

"Once."

"Well, think about it. There are a lot of hotels on here, but read this map and maybe it'll jog your memory."

"They've got really tasty desserts," Clem explained, remembering those deluxe chocolate sundaes. "It's called the M...M something...Mar..."

"Is this it, the Marsh House?" Lee asked, pointing to a spot on the map.

"Yes, that's it!" Clementine exclaimed.

"So we'll head there."

"Yes!"

"You think we have a good plan?" Lee asked.

"I think it's very good. Can I...tell my parents...you know...?"

Lee seemed to think about it. Clementine knew that Lee's past might not even matter to them. "Sure, go ahead. All right, how do you feel?"

"Good. Better! I'm glad we have a plan," Clementine told him.

"And you're a good little shot!" Lee complimented.

"Thanks."

"I guess we should see how far-"

"OH, SHIT! HOLD ON, EVERYBODY!" Kenny announced from up front.

The train stopped almost abruptly, Lee placing his hand on Clementine's shoulder to keep her steady.

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**So I'm postponing the meet-up until next chapter, which will probably be the last chapter of Episode 3. Please be sure to review! :)**


	16. The People We Meet: End Of Episode 3

**This is probably the longest chapter yet. I'm close to 50 reviews already! You guys are wonderful! :D**

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The train came to an almost abrupt stop in front of a bridge, but everyone climbed out of the train only to find that the back of a large gas truck was blocking their way. Kenny walked over, a furious look on his face.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK, FUUUUUCK!" he cursed loudly.

"...Maybe we could walk?" Ben suggested.

"That's fucking stupid, Ben."

"I'm just sayin'..." the teenager told him.

Chuck climbed down the ladder of the front. "Hmm, I dunno," he added. "I ain't got much experience with y'all's fortitude, but we could probably deal with that. We got a goddamn train!"

"That thing's not full of milk, Charles," Kenny snapped at him. "That's gas, or diesel. Something that's going to explode."

"You gotta get ahold of yourself," Chuck warned. "This is a crew here."

Kenny stepped forward. "This ain't shit."

"This-"

"Yo! You keep screaming like that, you're gonna get your face chewed off!" a new voice chimed in.

Everyone looked up, and there were two people on top of the bridge. The one who had spoken was a rather short Persian-American man, and the woman with him was a taller African-American.

"Are you guys gonna be trouble? Because we could've just kept walking," the woman called down.

Lee and Clementine walked closer.

"No, we're friendly!" Lee replied. In a softer voice, he added, "Put your hand down, Ken."

"That's what everybody says," the woman told him.

"I know."

"Let's give these guys a break," the man turned to the woman.

"We'll see," she replied.

"You guys got a problem with your train?" the man called.

"Yeah, you're standing right in front of it," Kenny answered in a sassy tone.

"Dude, it's a wreck! It's not so bad from up here! Send your buddy up to have a look."

Lee walked a couple of steps, and Kenny held his hand out. "Anything goes sideways up there, we won't let them escape."

The other man didn't reply, just walked closer to the ladder, but stopped and looked up. "If I come up there, you better not be murderers or thieves!"

"I guess you'll have to find out," the woman responded.

Clementine watched as Lee climbed up the bridge ladder and began talking to the two people on the bridge. They appeared to be a couple, but the little girl couldn't be sure.

She turned to the three men behind her, but none of them were really paying attention, so she ran over and began to climb the ladder as well, wanting to see what Lee and the two people were discussing up there.

"Hey, dude, I'm Omid," the man introduced himself.

"Lee."

"Christa. What's the deal with the train?"

"Look, you want to help us out?" Lee asked. "We could use some able bodies and...yeah, we really need some help."

"What's in it-" Christa began, but stopped when she and Omid noticed Clementine.

"Oh, shit!" Omid cried. "Goddamn, you guys have a kid!"

"What are you doing up here?" Lee inquired of Clem.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've seen a kid?" Omid continued excitedly. "Shit! What's your name?"

"Clementine!"

"Oh, so _he_ gets to swear," Lee said in a mock-stern voice, folding his arms.

"Well, this is great! See, things are looking up!" Omid turned to Christa with a positive expression.

"You're not her dad," Christa pointed out. "He down there?"

This was a little surprising for Clementine, since almost everyone she and Lee had come across had thought that Lee was her father.

"It's that obvious?" Lee asked.

"To me."

"And no, he's not down there."

"Hmm, what's your story?" Christa wanted to know.

Lee knelt down, and Clementine walked to the other side of him. He got back up and answered him. "I came across Clementine alone the first day all of this happened. We've been together ever since."

"And everybody down there, they're cool?"

"Kenny lost his wife and kid," Lee explained.

"Man. How long ago?" Omid asked, a sorrowful expression on his face.

"What time is it?"

"I don't know, four?"

"Maybe two hours ago."

"Goddamn..." Christa whispered.

"We're sorry for anything that's happened to you guys," Omid added. "The train is awesome, though."

"The tank is your real problem," said Christa. "We'll help you with it, but if we see anything we don't like, we're moving on down the road. Alone."

"We appreciate the help," Lee replied.

"We can't just blast through it, I guess," Omid pointed out.

"If you could get it down, the rest would probably be pretty easy," Christa explained.

"We'll start there," Lee answered.

"We'll come down and settle in, and see if we can help."

So everyone climbed down the ladder and approached Kenny, Chuck, and Ben, who were still wordlessly standing by the train.

"Guys, this is Omid and Christa," Lee introduced the two new people.

All they got was skeptical stares.

"Not big on welcomes," Omid noted, scratching the back of his head.

"Like I said, we could use some good people," said Lee.

"We just wanted to say hi and say that your train is pretty cool," Omid announced.

"But we're not looking for charity," Christa added.

"These two are joining us," Lee told the group.

"We'll see about that."

"Gotta be careful about newcomers, I say," Chuck replied.

"I don't know what it is, but I can tell that you two are good people," Lee turned to Christa and Omid.

"You want to start in on that tanker?" Omid asked.

"I'll get to know the girl for a minute, if you don't mind," Christa said.

Clementine gave her a small smile, it was good to have another female in the group.

"And why don't I show you how this thing works, in case something happens?" Kenny suggested in a solemn voice.

"Really, Ken?" Lee questioned.

"It's probably for the best." The mustached man got back onto the train.

"Clementine, right?" Christa turned to the nine-year-old. "Why don't we sit over there so we can talk?"

Clem nodded. "Okay."

At first, some of the basic questions were asked, like Clementine's age (she told Christa that she was still eight instead of nine, yet she didn't know why), and about school and all that, then Clem asked somewhat about their journey.

"Do you live near here?" Clementine inquired.

"We actually lived in San Francisco, Omid and I," Christa explained. "Omid wanted to travel around the country six months ago, and we haven't been home since. It was like a long vacation for us before all this happened." Christa smiled at the memory.

"Wow, I wish I could go on vacation for six months!" Clem cried excitedly. "But my parents say that I would miss too much school."

"That _is_ important, honey," Christa nodded. "But just wait until you're older, then you'll be able to go on all the vacations you want."

The woman glanced over and noticed the walkie-talkie. "So do you use that radio for anything, Clementine?"

Clementine held it up for her to see. "I use it to have pretend talks with my mom and dad," she explained, only half-lying. "Lee and I are going to Savannah to find them. If you and Omid come with us, you can meet them!"

"Well, I hope you find them, then."

Lee walked over and knelt down. "You interrogating this woman for us?"

"Yep."

"She set off any alarm bells?"

"Not yet."

"She's very thorough," Christa commented.

"That's what I like to hear," Lee replied. He got up and turned to Christa. "Hey there."

"That's a pretty useful radio for her to be holding onto, no?"

"It's busted, but...it means something to her."

"Ah, I understand," Christa replied, probably remembering what Clementine had told her.

"Where you from?" Lee inquired.

"San Francisco."

"Jeez, a long way from home."

"I blame the one in there, he wanted the great American road trip," Christa basically told him what she had told Clem.

"Well, he got a little more than he bargained for, huh?"

"Who the hell is into Civil War history, anyway? Other than old white guys."

Clementine giggled softly as Lee raised his hand, smiling innocently.

Christa smirked. "Wonderful. You two will be thick as thieves."

"Careful, she's a crack shot now," Lee warned, referring to teaching Clementine how to shoot.

"You got this girl shooting guns?" Christa frowned.

"Look, I don't need a lecture."

"You're not getting one. It's good. She should be able to take care of herself."

Clementine grinned proudly, who didn't like being praised?

Lee walked away, and Clementine noticed that he was going into the other direction.

She looked up at Christa. "Can we talk again soon? I want to go see what Lee's doing."

Christa nodded. "Of course. I better go make sure that Omid isn't about to blow up the train, anyway." She smirked and shook her head.

So Clementine got up and ran over to Lee. "Can I follow you over there?"

"You don't like the new girl?" Lee asked.

"I do! But, it's like we're a team, like you said!"

"Yeah, alright, come on." Lee turned around. "Clementine and I are checking out this train station, alright? Hustle over if you hear anything!"

So it was about a minute's walk to the train station several yard away, and Clementine ran over to a closed door, beginning to fiddle around with the lock. Lee seemed to notice, and walked over behind her.

"You should wait for me before trying to open doors," Lee scolded, but not harshly.

"Sorry."

"Luckily, it's locked. We'll get better at working together."

Clem nodded and walked over to a side. Lee walked around briefly before turning his attention to the window on top. "Hmm, the window's open on top."

"Maybe I could look in?" Clem suggested.

"Why don't I put you onto my shoulders, and you can peek into that window up there?"

"Sounds good," the little girl nodded.

She walked over, and Lee lifted her up and placed her on his shoulders. Clementine peeked inside and saw mostly darkness, but also some crates.

"Okay, I can see in, what do I do now?" she asked.

"What do you see?"

"Lots of crates and stuff."

"Maybe we can find a key or figure a way to knock this door down..."

But Clementine wasn't listening, she began fiddling around with the window, and got it open.

"I think I opened it!" she interrupted.

"For real?" Lee exclaimed.

"I think so!"

Lee put Clem down, and she opened the door with a triumphant smile on her face.

"Well I'll be damned..."

They closed the door, and Lee looked over at Clementine.

"Let's go. Be careful," Clementine instructed, wanting to sound grown-up.

"I'm supposed to tell you that," Lee replied. The two smiled at one another.

The two walked inside, and the door creaked shut behind them. Lee looked around.

"Goddamn, it's dark in here," he commented.

"Maybe I can hold the door open?" Clementine suggested.

"I don't like that, I'll prop it open with something." At that, Lee pulled a wrench-like item out of his pocket and placed it in front of the door, opening it slightly and letting in some of the light. Now, the two of them could see better.

Lee walked over in front of the locked cage.

"It's locked up good, but there's some space at the top," he noted.

"We're lucky I'm so little," Clem replied. For once, she didn't mind with calling herself little.

"Yeah, we are."

Lee walked over to her. "You okay going over the top of this fence?"

"Yeah, definitely," Clementine told him with full confidence.

Lee picked her up, and she dropped herself in the locked cage. "Go on and grab the keys, Clem."

The little girl nodded, but then noticed something walking slowly towards Lee, unbeknownst to him. There was a walker coming right for him.

"Come on, scoot."

Clementine flinched away. "Behind you!"

"Fuck!" Lee swore, getting out his gun. But another walker came and tried to chomp him before he could shoot.

Clementine watched with fear and worry as Lee back away to grab the monkey wrench, punching the walkers twice each before getting there. He was able to kill one of them with the wrench, but the first one came over and tried to bite him.

That's when Clem noticed that the gun was now at her feet. Trembling, she picked it up and remembered Lee's instructions from earlier. She loaded it up and was about to pull the trigger when Lee successfully killed the second one.

"It's okay, it's okay, everything's fine," Lee reassured her. At that, she lowered the gun, glad that Lee was alright.

But only mere seconds after that, another low growling noise was heard, causing the man to almost panic.

"KEYS! NOW!"

Clementine ran over and grabbed them quickly, and Lee snatched them and unlocked the cage. She ran over and clung to him while he took the gun from her, shooting the walker that was ready for lunch.

"Whew...goddamn..."

"That didn't go so good," Clementine pointed out.

"No, it did _not_ go so good," Lee agreed. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "But we're okay. Everything's okay."

"What's going on? I thought I heard a gunshot!" Christa called from outside.

"We're fine," Lee assured the woman.

Christa walked in and noticed the dead walker bodies all around.

"We found some walkers," Lee spoke the obvious.

"You and an eight-year-old versus three of them, huh?" Christa asked, walking over.

"We handled it," said Lee.

"Yeah, it looks like," Christa responded. "What if you hadn't?"

Lee only frowned at her.

"I'm going to go make sure the noise didn't cause us any problems," Christa continued.

"That's a good idea!" Clementine replied, trying to lighten the mood.

Christa smiled at her and walked towards the door, turning back around to say one thing to Lee.

"I hope you know what you're doing with her."

"Me too," Lee answered.

"For her sake."

Christa walked out, and Lee turned back to Clem.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'm a little shaky," the little girl told him.

"It'll pass."

Lee walked in and grabbed the blowtorch from inside the cage. "We got it."

"Let's go outside now," said Clementine. She wanted to get out of this creepy room.

"What did we learn?" Lee inquired of her.

"I'm not ready for a gun," Clementine looked down sadly.

"We learned not to be afraid," Lee corrected her. "They should've got us, but we got them."

"Yeah, you're right," Clementine realized with a smile.

"Fear is the thing that will kill us, you understand?"

Clementine nodded and the two of them walked back outside and back to the train. Omid walked out of the front of it, wanting to know what had happened. Surely Christa had told him a little bit.

"I found a blowtorch in the station," Lee explained. "Should make quick work of the coupling up there."

"Excellent, I'll come up there with you to have a look," Omid grinned, and began climbing up the ladder.

Clementine sat back down with Christa, and the two females continued their conversation. A couple minutes later, Clementine looked up and saw part of the tank fall, and Omid caught Lee before he could fall too.

"Look, I think it's almost fixed," Clem pointed out. She got up and decided to to watch.

Christa didn't look too happy to see her boyfriend being dangled over the ledge to fix something, but she looked worried too.

"He'll be okay, Lee's real strong!" Clementine reassured her.

Christa looked down and gave her a small smile. "I'm sure he will. You should see some of the shenanigans he pulls off, though."

The two of them turned around when they heard a noise coming from the other direction. Ben, who was on watch, turned around to look for himself. When he realized the situation, he turned around and warned everyone.

"Guys...there's something coming!" he shouted. "WE GOTTA GO!" He began running and got off of the roof.

Clementine climbed back onto the train, followed by Christa. Omid was able to successfully cut the tank loose, but it fell in the direction of the ladder, blocking his and Lee's only exit. Lee kicked the blowtorch off, causing a fire next to the train.

Christa ran to the back boxcar, wondering what had happened.

Clementine was in the front with Kenny and Ben, and heard some of the commotion going on from behind. She looked out and noticed Omid and Christa running (or limping, in Omid's case) next to the train. Lee reached out and pulled Omid up first.

When things were quieter in the back, Clementine made her way to the back boxcar. "Are you hurt?" she inquired of Lee.

"No, we're okay," Lee replied.

"Speak for yourself, my leg is fucked!" Omid cried.

"We're fine, Clementine. We're fine," said Christa.

So Clementine, satisfied with her answer, sat near Lee, listening as the moans of walkers got fainter and fainter.

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**And that wraps up Episode 3, Long Road Ahead. Please excuse my inability to write for Christa, she's not easy to write. :P Also, where is she, damn it? X( Anyway, please leave a review! You guys rock!**

**My Episode Choices: **

**I didn't shoot the girl**

**I left Lilly behind**

**I was able to talk Kenny down**

**I shot Duck myself**

**I helped Omid on the train first**


	17. The City Of Savannah

**So here we begin Episode 4, which, to be honest, was my least favorite episode of Season 1, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. Thank you all for over 50 reviews!**

**In a reply to Guest (I'm really not trying to sound rude, I'm sorry if it seems that way), please remember that this is a story about _Clementine's_ side, not Lee's. I didn't add the ending because there wasn't really anything from her POV besides her sleeping, but thanks anyway.**

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"Clem, wake up," Lee shook Clementine gently awake.

"Hmm?" Clementine's golden eyes fluttered open. She straightened up in the chair. "Lee?"

"Yeah, I'm here, sweet pea," he whispered. "Come on, get up. We're in Savannah now. Kenny's waiting for us."

That woke the nine-year-old up in a heartbeat. Lee had driven the train the night before to let Kenny attempt to sleep, and Clementine had spent the night in the chair near the driver's. She got up, yawning and stretching.

"I'll also need to see your walkie-talkie," Lee added, holding it out.

"What? Why?" Clementine wanted to know.

"I need to keep it with me so that nothing fishy goes on with it," the man explained, but he had a suspicious look.

Clementine pouted, but handed the radio over anyway. When they got out, Christa was helping a struggling Omid out of the boxcar. When the two of them walked slowly over to the group, Clem could help but wonder.

"Is your leg okay?" she asked Omid innocently.

"Eh, I'm fine," Omid tried to reassure her. "Nothin' too bad." He grinned at her.

"Nothing too _bad?"_ Christa chastised him. "Omid, your leg could be infected!"

"Why so serious, babe?" Omid teased, smirking. Christa grumbled.

"Alright, come on, let's go," Lee announced, and they were on their way.

The city of Savannah was too eerily quiet. Not a soul was within sight, and the group found this out as they walked along the streets. Omid bumped into a car, his leg stinging with pain, but continued walking (limping?).

Clementine stopped and looked at a ruined, deserted house, before catching up to Lee, noticing the walkie-talkie clutched to his beige jeans.

"Can't I just hold it?" she asked. She _really_ wanted to speak to that man again. "Just for a little while? We're getting real close to where my mom and dad are. Maybe we can-"

Lee was quiet for a moment, looking down at her before answering. "Not now, Clementine. Maybe later, okay?"

"Okay..." the little girl replied sadly.

"How's Omid?" Lee inquired of Christa.

"His leg's pretty bad," Christa answered.

"I'm fine," Omid repeated.

"You're not fine. You need to rest," Christa turned around to face Lee. "He needs to rest!"

"Kenny, how much farther to the river front?" Lee asked the mustached man.

"Should be just a few more blocks up ahead," Kenny responded.

"And there'll be boats there?" Christa wanted to know.

"There sure as hell better be," Lee added.

"There'll be boats," Kenny tried to assure them. "Have to be. Have to be."

"It's going to be okay," said Ben. "Kenny knows what he's doing."

The group stopped when they heard church bells ringing. "...What the hell?" Ben wondered.

"Maybe this city's not so dead after all," Christa pointed out.

"Keep moving," Kenny directed. "No one's ringing that bell. It's automatic. On a timer."

Lee looked at his watch. "What kind of church bell goes off at twenty past the hour?"

Clementine looked up, and saw a person running away from the bell. Lee noticed this too. "Someone's up there!"

"Are you sure? I don't see anything!" Ben commented.

"Hey! Hey you, up there!" Lee called, waving his arm. Clementine wondered if that was such a good idea.

"Dammit, Lee, keep _quiet!"_ Christa hissed at him. "You're gonna-"

The radio began scratching up, making Clementine nervous. She realized that Lee knew that it wasn't busted at all, and that was probably why he had taken it away from her. But there was nothing wrong with this man (which she realized later wasn't true).

_"If I were you, I'd get out of the street. Now,"_ the man warned Lee.

"I thought you said that thing didn't work!" Christa cried.

"Who is this?" Lee spoke into the walkie-talkie. "Is that you up in the bell tower?"

No one moved or made a sound for about ten seconds, trying to grasp what had just occurred.

"What the hell was that? Is someone trying to fuck with us?" Omid wondered.

"Sounded more like a warning," Ben pointed out.

Chuck turned around. "Ask not for whom the bell tolls..."

"What are you yammerin' on about?" Kenny turned around to face him.

"...it tolls for thee," Chuck finished his statement, not bothering to acknowledge Kenny.

At that, a herd of walkers began appearing all around the group. "EVERYBODY, RUN!" Lee yelled, and they all did. Kenny and Christa began shooting at walkers, while Chuck began hitting them with his shovel. Clementine ran to Lee, and both briefly stopped before running again.

A walker tripped Kenny and grabbed his ankle, causing him to fall. His gun fell just out of reach.

"Kenny!" Lee called, running to help. Clementine turned around and began to follow Ben, who had stopped running for whatever reason. Walkers began to surround them, leaving them almost no escape.

"Ben!" Clementine cried, hoping that he would help her.

"Ben, help her!" Lee shouted in the teenager's direction.

Clementine let out fearful gasps and turned to the older boy for help. But instead of doing that, Ben ran off, not even bothering to grab her arm or anything. But poor Clem was totally defenseless, and Lee began shooting the walkers closing in on her.

Clem didn't realize that there was a walker right behind her until she heard its moans, and she screamed.

"NO!" Lee hollered, running to help.

But Chuck appeared them, hitting the walker over the head with his shovel. Lee ran to Clementine and grabbed her in a hug, which she gratefully accepted. The pair turned to look at Chuck, who had plunged his shovel into the walker's chest.

"Get her the hell out of here!" the old man ordered. "I'll catch up with ya!"

Lee looked at Chuck uncertainly for a moment, before running away. Clementine followed suit.

"Move your asses!" Kenny barked at the group. "River Street's right up ahead!"

"That's not all," Ben warning, referring to the next group of walkers coming their way.

"Oh, give me a _fucking_ break!" Kenny screamed.

"Wait, where the hell's Chuck?" Christa asked.

Clem and Lee turned around, only to find that he was still fighting off walkers.

"Shit, he's in trouble!" Omid cried. "We gotta help him!"

Kenny glanced back and turned around. "There's no time! We gotta go, now!"

"I'll be fine! Just go!" Chuck yelled.

The group obeyed and began running in the opposite direction, which took slightly longer than intended because of Omid's possibly infected leg. They turned and found themselves in a garden of a mansion. Omid fell, and Lee slammed the gate shut.

"You okay?" Lee asked.

"Ugh..." Omid turned over. "Yeah."

"You've opened up your wound, you're bleeding!" Christa exclaimed. She got up. "Shit, that's gonna get infected. We've got to get him inside, clean him up!"

Clementine decided to take charge and be on watch, standing by the gate so that she could warn the group of any oncoming walkers. She glanced around and noticed Lee walking to the door by Kenny.

"Kenny, how's that door coming?" Lee asked.

"I'm working on it, I'm working on it!" Kenny shot back.

"Well, work faster, would you?" Christa snapped at him. "It won't be long before those things outside figure out where we went. You know they can smell blood!"

"Lady, I ain't the one who's bleeding!"

"Let me see if I can find us a way in," Lee announced.

Clementine heard him approach, and she turned around to talk to him. "Do you think the dead people saw us come back here? Are they going to find us?"

"No, they didn't see us," Lee reassured her. "We were too fast for them."

"I can still hear them out there," Clem told him. "It sounds like they're getting closer!"

"It's just your imagination."

"I'll feel safer when we're inside the house."

At that, she decided to walk over and sit by Christa and Omid, waiting for her guardian to find them a way into the house.

"How's he looking?" Lee asked the couple.

"I'm all right," said Omid.

"You're not all right," Christa told him. "You've reopened your wound, you're losing blood, and God only knows what might've gotten in there. It could be infected, it could be-"

"No offense, but you really need to work on your bedside manner," Omid interjected.

"She's just worried about you, man," Lee tried to reason. "Don't worry, we're gonna get you fixed up in no time, just as soon as we're inside. Okay?"

"Okay. Thanks, man," Omid replied.

"Please go and help Kenny!" Christa asked. "We need to get him inside now!"

"I'm on it, just sit tight," said Lee.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere," Omid joked.

Clementine was feeling a little cold as the air was getting a little chilly. She rubbed her skinny arms, watching as Lee basically putsied around the yard, trying to find a way into the house.

"Who the hell ever heard of a locked doggie door?" Kenny wondered out loud.

"I have," Omid spoke up. "My neighbor had one just like that, it's radio-controlled. The dog wears a collar with a chip in it so the door only opens when the dog gets close to it."

"Well, shit. Every day's a school day," Kenny replied, managing a small smile.

"Alright, so...where's the dog?" Ben questioned.

There could only be one possible place if the dog was nearby. Clementine and Lee both looked over and saw it: The grave by the doghouse.

"Hey, be careful," Omid warned. "Digging up dead things isn't what it used to be, you know what I mean?"

Clementine and the rest of the group got up and stood next to Lee as he began digging into the grave. "What's buried down there?"

After a few more digs, the thing buried was revealed to be the decomposed body of a dog. The smell was unbearable.

"It's been here awhile," Lee told everyone.

Clementine went to sit by Christa and Omid as Lee continued to dig the rest of the way in.

"Oh, God, the smell," Ben announced, practically reading Clem's mind.

Lee picked up the dog by it's collar. "Ugh, I can't get it off." But right after he said that, the dog's head fell apart, and the body fell back in. This action grossed everyone out. Clementine had a disgusted look on her face.

"Okay, that is not cool!" Ben cried.

"Jesus!"

Christa immediately turned around and began vomiting. Clementine looked up at her, concerned.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, honey," Christa reassured her. "It's just the smell."

"Are you sure you-" Omid began.

"I said I'm fine, okay?"

"I don't need that anymore," Lee commented, referring to the shovel. "I'm done digging up dead dogs for today."

He walked up to the door, and held the collar up against it. The plan had obviously worked due to Kenny's joyous shout.

"YES! Goddamn!"

Christa and Clem smiled at one another, happy that they were able to go inside. Clementine ran up to the door, and Lee was peeking inside through the doggie door.

"See anything in there?" Ben asked.

"No, looks like it's been empty awhile," Lee replied.

He tried to reach inside and get the doorknob, but to no avail. Clementine had an idea. When no one was looking, she crouched down and quickly crawled through the doggie door, able to get inside the house.

"Clem, are you okay? Some something!" Lee called to her.

Clementine smiled, wanting to scare the group for a moment, and slowly opening the door, revealing herself. "Ta-da!" she sang.

"Good job, Clem!" Lee praised.

"Yeah, way to go!" Ben added, and Kenny nodded, looking down at her.

"I did good, right?" she inquired of Lee.

"Yes, you did! You did good," Lee confirmed.

"Can we maybe have this conversation inside?" Omid called out, standing up. "My leg's starting to hurt like hell."

Kenny walked up and glanced around. "Looks okay from here, everybody in!"

The group walked inside, and Clementine wondered if this was going to be a somewhat long-term solution, like the motor inn.

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**There's the first chapter of Around Every Corner. Please be sure to leave a review! :D Also, I plan on writing my AU about Sarah once I'm finished with this story, which I predict will have about 25-30 chapters, including an epilogue. **


	18. Plan Discussions

**Thanks to all who reviewed! And in a reply to Anonymous, I'm not entirely sure anymore since there's a bunch of quote-on-quote Season 2 stories out there, but I may put a poll on my profile to see if people want that.**

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When the group walked into the mansion, Christa helped a limping Omid over to a couch in the living room, and then came back over to talk to Lee.

"So, when were you gonna tell us about the radio?" Christa almost demanded.

Clementine just stared off to the other side, a remorseful look crossing her face. It was going to be a lot harder to meet up with the man who wanted to help find her parents if Lee and the others now knew her little secret.

"Tell you what?" Kenny wanted to know.

"That it's working!" Christa cried. "That there's someone else at the other end of that thing! You didn't think that might've been worth sharing with the rest of us?"

"I was going to tell you, Kenny and I only found out yesterday!" Lee replied.

"So both of you were keeping it from the rest of us? Great!"

"Who gives a shit about the damn radio?" Kenny blurted out. "I'm more worried about whoever it was out there ringing that bell and bringing the dead down on top of us! It's like they didn't want us to make it to the river!"

"What makes you think it's not the same person?" Christa inquired. "Whoever was on the radio was close enough to see us in the street. And we didn't see anyone else other than the guy in the bell tower."

"Because that doesn't make a lick of damn sense! Why would they bring the dead out like that and then try to warn us about it?"

By now, Clementine was standing in a doorway near Ben and trying to block out the conversation in the kitchen. Ben appeared to be listening in, and went to look around in the dining room.

"The place seems secure, at least," the teenager commented.

"I'll feel better when we know that for sure," said Christa. "We need to check the whole house."

"Alright, fine," Kenny agreed. "You and me will take the upstairs." Here he looked at Ben. "Lee, you've got down here. Make sure you check every door, understand?"

Lee nodded. "Okay."

Everyone went to their assigned tasks, and Clementine walked up to her guardian.

"Can I help? What if there's another locked door?"

"I think you've been helpful enough for one day, kiddo," Lee replied, rubbing her head affectionately. "Why don't you just see if Christa and Omid need anything, okay?"

"Okay," Clem answered glumly.

She walked over to the living room, where Christa was looming over her boyfriend on the couch.

"Are you guys okay?" the nine-year-old asked.

"We're fine, aren't we?" Omid turned to Christa.

The latter sighed worriedly. "We _need_ to get your leg fixed, and soon. You just sit still and rest."

"Where would I go?" Omid smiled lightheartedly, then grimaced.

Lee was in charge of searching the downstairs and came into the living room, wanting to check on the three.

"Hey guys," he greeted.

"How's the house looking?" Christa stood up.

"Not done searching the first floor yet. But so far, so good. How's that couch treating you, Omid? Leg feeling better yet?"

"I'm all right," Omid tried to reassure him.

"I feel you."

Omid's only reply was a pained expression. Lee got up and check on Clementine.

"Holding up okay?" he asked.

"I hope this house is safe," the little girl responded. "Have you checked all the rooms to make sure?"

"No, but I'll take care of it."

He got up and looked in the two closets right near them, pulling out his gun just in case something were to pop out at them. But much to Clem's relief, the house seemed safe enough.

"All clear in here," Lee announced when he checked the second door.

Clementine decided to sit and wait patiently, but jumped slightly when she heard a creaking noise.

"Jesus!" Lee cried.

"What? What happened?" Clem called.

"It's nothing...just, nothing."

It turned out that it was only a broom that had jumped out and scared Lee, and he grumbled under his breath as he picked it up and placed it back in the closet.

"Hey babe, you don't mind if I get some shut-eye for awhile, right?" Omid asked.

"No, rest is what you need for now," Christa told him. Omid nodded once and closed his eyes, turning his head. Christa turned around and focused her attention on Clementine.

"Clementine? Can you tell me if you know who that man is on the radio? Surely you two have a connection."

Clementine opened her mouth to speak when Lee came back to the room.

"Well, the place ain't got much," Lee concluded, walking back into the living room. "We should be okay here for awhile, at least until it quiets down outside."

"Good, thanks," Christa replied.

"Is he okay?" Lee asked.

"Yeah, for now. But I'm really worried his leg might've gotten infected. Don't suppose you turned up any meds while you were poking around?"

"Nah, just dog food. And there's some whiskey in the back."

"I was just asking Clementine if she knows who the man on the radio is," Christa added. "It's okay, honey, you can tell us. Who is he?"

Clementine turned away a little shamefully. She didn't want Lee, or anyone for that matter, to get mad at her.

"Go ahead, Clem. It's okay," Lee reassured her, kneeling beside her. "You're not in any trouble."

Clem hesitated, but decided to answer anyway. "It's just a friend. I don't think he wants to hurt us."

"What has he been saying to you?" Christa asked, slightly suspicious. "What have you been saying to him?"

"I told him that I was trying to find my parents, and that they were in Savannah," Clementine explained. "He really seems nice, I think he wants to help me find them!"

Why were Lee and Christa so against her talking to that man on the radio?

"Clementine, honey, trust me, that's _not_ what he wants," Christa tried to reason. "He-"

"LEE!" Ben called, cutting Christa off.

Lee ran to the staircase, and Ben appeared. "Lee, you need to get up here now!"

"What's wrong?" he replied.

"It's Kenny."

Lee followed Ben up the stairs, and Christa sighed.

"We can talk about this later, Clementine, okay?"

Clem nodded and sat quietly in the chair. After a couple minutes, she heard a noise coming from the attic, but Christa told her to stay put. Lee came downstairs with a sad expression on his face. He happened to be carrying the undead version of a boy who had starved to death, due to his skin and bones.

Clementine followed Lee outside and stood by the door, watching as he gently placed the boy in the grave next to the dog. The little girl knew that the boy reminded her of someone, and after a moment, she realized just who that was.

Duck.

Lee stood by the grave for a few seconds, paying his silent respects, before taking the shovel and starting to dig. He turned around and noticed Clementine watching, and paused. Christa came up behind her, and Lee gave them a look that said, "I'm sorry."

Clem decided not to watch anymore, and decided to go inside, Christa following her.

"HEY! WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?" Lee yelled, causing Clementine to jump. Everyone except for Omid (who was still resting on the couch) walked outside to see what the commotion was all about.

Kenny came out with a saddened expression. Perhaps that boy had reminded him of Duck as well.

"Kenny?" Lee asked.

"I'm fine. Just...I'm fine," Kenny tried to assure him. "What's all the ruckus?"

"Lee saw someone watching us from outside the gate," Ben replied.

_Maybe it was that man!_ Clementine's thoughts screamed at her._ Maybe he wanted to meet up here!_

"What? Who?" Kenny questioned.

"I can't be sure, they ran off before I could get a good look," Lee answered.

"I don't like this one bit," said Ben. "Not one bit."

"Me either," Christa agreed. "Walkers are one thing, but the thought of someone actually stalking us..."

Clementine hung back. If it was that man on the other side, she was practically the cause for all the ruckus, and that she felt bad for.

"All right, that's it!" Kenny demanded. "We've stuck around here long enough. It's time to get back on track, time to get down to the river and find ourselves a boat!"

"I don't know if Omid's well enough to move yet," Christa told him.

"Well, he'd better get ready! Because I'm going down to River Street right now to find a boat. And as soon as she's ready to go, we're moving out!"

It was eventually settled. Ben would look around the place for supplies, while Lee and Kenny headed on out to River Street to find a boat.

"Wait, can't I come?" Clementine asked. "My mom and dad can't be far now, maybe we can look for them on the way to the river!"

"Clem, honey, I think it might be best for you to stay here with Ben," Lee told her. "I need you to watch out for Omid and Christa, help them get ready to move out."

"You said I'm supposed to always stay close to _you!"_ Clementine protested.

"I know, it's just this once. Sometimes we all have to put aside what we want for the good of the group. Hey, don't worry. I'll be back before you know it, okay?"

"Okay," Clem replied glumly.

"Daylight's burnin'," Kenny announced. "Gonna go grab my gear, then we'll head out."

"Come on, Clem," Christa spoke up. "Let's go see if Omid needs anything."

The group, minus Lee, walked back inside. Omid was awake now, and he looked up as the two females walked over to him.

"Christa? What happened?" the Persian man inquired, having woken up most likely from Lee's yelling.

Christa looked up and sighed. "Someone was watching Lee. Whoever it was, they took off before he could get a good glimpse."

"Was it that person who was on that radio earlier?"

"I don't know."

Ben walked in and stood beside Clementine. "Um, how are you feeling, Omid?"

Omid shrugged. "About the same, I guess. Thanks, kid." He put a hand to his forehead and starting massaging his temple.

"Have you found anything?" Christa asked.

"No, not really," said Ben. "All I found so far was some stale milk in the kitchen." He made a face. "It...smelled pretty bad. I'm gonna keep looking."

"Can I help you?" Clementine looked up at the older boy with her doe golden eyes.

"Uh, yeah, sure Clem," Ben nodded. "You can look upstairs, okay? It's all clear."

"If you find any sort of pain medicine, Clementine, can you bring it here for Omid?" Christa asked her.

Clem nodded and darted upstairs to start looking. Much to her delight, she had found some crayons and paper that had probably belonged to the boy that lived here, but other than that there was nothing. She jumped when she heard Christa shout.

"OMID!"

Clementine ran over and stood at the top of the stairs, listening in on the following conversation.

"Omid, wake up, damn it!" Christa cried.

"What? What happened?" Ben asked, scampering into the room.

"He's unconscious. I think his leg is infected for sure."

"What do we do?"

"I don't know! Help me carry him upstairs to one of the bedrooms," Christa instructed.

There was shuffling, and then Christa and Ben appeared, carrying Omid (Christa at the upper body, Ben at the lower). Clementine moved out of the way and tried to follow, but Ben appeared after Omid was laid on the bed.

"Clementine, I need you to stay put," Ben told her. "Christa and I are going to check on Omid's condition."

Clem nodded. "Okay."

But she had other plans, now that Ben, who was put in charge of watching her, was distracted. She was going to go to the river and see if Lee and Kenny were still there, and if they had had any success with finding a boat.

Clementine sneaked downstairs and quietly walked over to the back door, just in case anyone upstairs had heard her. Smiling at her success, she ran out of the yard and began making her way to River Street.

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**And there's Chapter 18. Sorry if not much happened, I'll try better tomorrow. But until then, please be sure to leave a review!**


	19. Molly

**Thanks to all who reviewed!**

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Clementine was very surprised to not see any walkers nearby, but that might have been because she heard another church bell go off, this time in the distance, so that the walkers would be heading in that direction, away from her.

She was just at River Street when she saw Kenny run to the corner of a building, hiding and getting out his gun, his eyes scanning around for anything fishy. He turned in her direction, but she gasped softly and hid behind the building just in time.

There was a hitting noise, and Lee's shocked yell. Clementine looked scared, and ran to the other side, listening to a scuffle going on. She was surprised at what she saw: Lee standing over a person wearing an orange jacket and a doctor's mask, pointing a gun to their head.

"Lee!" she cried.

He turned around and noticed her. "Clem?!"

But his attention to the nine-year-old was only brief, as he turned around and loaded his gun, still pointed at the person's head.

The person slowly took off their hoodie, revealing them to be a woman with short blonde hair.

"You're not from Crawford," she told them.

"Crawford? What the hell are you talking about?" Lee wanted to know, his face suspicious.

"Mind if I get up?" the woman asked cockily.

"Slowly."

Lee got off of her, and she stood up. She took off her mask and gave them a sassy smirk, proving that she wasn't afraid.

Kenny came from around the corner, his own gun pointed at the mysterious woman.

"Kenny, don't!" Lee cried.

The woman swooped around and kicked Kenny on the leg, sending him down. A gunshot went off, wasting a bullet. The walkers hung to a pole began struggling to get to them, but they were trapped. Clementine's eyes widened, she had just noticed them.

The woman tried to hit him with her ice pick, but Lee objected.

"No, he's with us!" he yelled.

The woman glared at him, then looked at Clementine. She crossed her arms and turned back to Lee. "Who the hell are you people?"

"I asked you first."

"The name's Molly."

"Molly," Lee repeated. "I'm Lee. This is Kenny and Clementine. We're not looking for any trouble."

"Hi!" Clem greeted with a smile. The woman, now known as Molly, turned to her, and the little girl gave her a wave.

Molly only frowned. "You guys really aren't from Crawford, are you?"

"I don't even know what that is," Lee replied.

"Everything beyond that barricade," Molly explained, pointing behind her with her thumb.

Clementine had a nervous expression, she didn't like this Crawford place already.

"What the hell happened here?" Lee asked.

"You sure you wanna know?"

Lee could only nod, and Molly began talking.

"When everything started going to shit, some people got together and sealed off that whole neighborhood. Folks willing to do anything to stay alive, stop the dead getting in. I try to avoid 'em."

"Why?" Kenny questioned.

"Let's just say they have a zero-tolerance policy for anyone who won't - or can't - live by their rules."

"So how'd you know we weren't them?"

Molly slowly turned away, looking at Clementine. "Because there are no children in Crawford. Not anymore."

_But why?_ Clem thought.

"What do you mean, no children?" Lee seemed to add to her thoughts. "Why not?"

"No children, no elderly, no one with an advanced medical condition," Molly continued, walking near the barricaded area. "Basically no one who might be a burden on their community. Crawford's all about the survival of the fittest. That's how they survived, while the rest of the world went to shit around them."

"Jesus Christ..." Kenny trailed off.

"Well, just the opposite, when you think about it," Molly replied.

"What exactly did Crawford do with all these 'burdens?'" Lee inquired. "What happened to them?"

"Well, you met some of them already," Molly told him bitterly, gesturing to the barricade.

"Fuck me," Kenny thought out loud, his hand to his head.

"Yeah. Anyone who got sick, anyone too old, anyone they figured wasn't strong enough to survive. To them, those people were just mouths to feed, a drain on their precious resolutions."

"How did you know about this?" Lee asked.

"Everyone in Savannah knew," Molly continued. "What was going on inside Crawford got passed around like a ghost story. Except this one was true."

Lee turned to his right, his attention now on Clementine again. "Clem, what the hell are you doing here? How did you get out of the house?"

"Omid started getting really sick," she explained. "Christa and Ben had to take him upstairs. I didn't just want to sit around there, I wanted to come help!"

"I told you we didn't need any help," Lee scolded her. He looked at Molly. "Do you know who's been ringing those bells all over town."

"Yeah, that would be me," Molly looked almost triumphant.

"I knew it!" Kenny yelled. "I knew that she was the one who's been following us, _fucking_ with us!" He pointed a stern finger in the young woman's face.

"Get that finger out of my face, Grandpa, before I shove it straight up your ass," Molly threatened. "I haven't been following you, I don't even know who the hell you people are!"

"Calm down, Kenny," Lee added. "The voice on the radio was a guy, remember?"

"Yeah, well, ringing those bells this morning nearly got us all killed, raised the dead all around us!" Kenny cried.

"That's the idea, genius. That's how I get around," Molly explained. "I ring a bell in one neighborhood to attract the local geeks towards it, buys me some time to scavenge the areas they cleared out."

"Geeks? Is that what you call them?" Kenny snickered.

"Yeah, like at the carnival. They'll eat anything, alive or dead."

"That's pretty smart, with the bells," Lee told her.

"Doesn't take much to outsmart the dead," Molly replied. "Bunch of dumbasses. You just gotta move fast, get in and out before they start to wander back again. Look, I'm gonna ask you people again. You're not from Crawford, so who the hell are you? What are you doing out here?"

"We came down here looking for a boat, hoping to get our people out of here and someplace safe."

"Good luck with that," Molly scoffed. "Anyone with a boat took it out of here as soon as people started eating each other. Any that got left behind, Crawford stripped them for parts. Cars too."

"There's gotta be something," said Kenny.

"If there was, do you think I'd still be here? I've been all over every inch of this city, the whole place is picked clean."

Kenny looked down, furious. "Goddamn it! Fuck!" He walked away.

"Hey, moron! You wanna keep your voice down?" Molly called.

"...Shit," Kenny muttered.

"Since you're not getting on any boat, I'd advise you folks go back to where you came from, before-" Molly was cut off by that familiar moaning and growling. "Great, just great."

"Isn't that the-" Kenny began.

"The way we came?" Lee finished.

"Fuck! Gunshot must've brought 'em back!"

"Isn't there another way back to the house?" Clementine asked.

"Molly, is there a-" Lee turned around, but Molly was already running away in the other direction.

Clementine, Lee, and Kenny ran after her, watching as she climbed onto a fire escape.

"Hey! You're just going to leave us here?" Lee demanded.

"Sorry, I must have missed that part of our conversation where you became my problem!"

"Don't leave us here! Please!" Clementine begged, giving her the sad puppy dog eyes.

Molly sighed in annoyance, and held out her hand. "Come on, make it fast!"

Lee lifted Clem up, getting her successfully onto the fire escape next to Molly. He boosted Kenny next, but there was just one problem: How was he going to get up on there himself?

"Lee, come on!" Clementine called.

"Come on, man, one good jump!" Kenny added, holding out his hand for Lee to grab.

Lee jumped up and grabbed it, but their hands slipped, causing him to fall back down again.

"NOOO! LEE!" Clementine yelled. "Lee, hurry!"

She grasped the bars as tightly as her little hands could manage (which wasn't all that tight, mind you). Lee pushed a dumpster out of the way, only to find that walkers were coming near him in either direction.

"Come on, Lee, get your ass outta there!" Kenny hollered.

Lee bent down and began trying to get a sewer door open, but without much success. Molly ran over and threw her ice pick down at him.

"Here! Use that to pry it open!" she said.

Lee took it and began prying his way in there.

"Come on, man, get it open," Kenny muttered, more to himself than to anyone.

Fortunately, Lee was able to get the sewer door open right before the walkers could try and eat him. He began climbing down the ladder, the walkers looming over the entrance so that he couldn't get out.

"LEE!" Clementine screamed.

"He'll be fine, Clementine, let's go," Kenny placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her into the building.

"Are-Are you sure?"

"He'll get back to the house, one way or another," Kenny tried to assure her, but his face told her that he looked a bit uncertain himself.

"Okay."

Luckily, the building the three had entered was clear of walkers, so Molly, Kenny, and Clementine were able to exit safely and start their path near the house.

"So, any plans now that you guys can't get a boat?" Molly inquired as they walked.

Kenny grunted. "Hell if I know. Can't stay in that damn house for too long, though."

Clementine trudged behind them, her eyes darting around for any sign of her mom or dad. But there wasn't another person or even a walker in sight. The chilly, foggy day really showed how dead the world really was nowadays.

The three managed to get back to the mansion unscathed. Ben must have heard the door open, because he ran to greet them, stopping dead in his tracks when he saw the new woman with them.

Ben nervously glanced around. "Uh...hi. Where's Lee?"

"We had some trouble along the way," Kenny exclaimed. "Clem and I were boosted to safety, but Lee got out a different way, under a sewer." Molly cleared her throat, and Kenny side-glared at her. "This here's Molly, this was who rang that bell this morning."

"You're welcome, by the way, for saving your asses," Molly chided. "You wouldn't have made it back here if it weren't from me."

"Hi," Ben nodded at her, and turned back to Kenny. "Omid ended up getting real sick, and fell unconscious. He woke up a few minutes ago, though, after Christa and I took him to one of the bedrooms upstairs."

Kenny only sighed, and his eyes focused on a couple of wine bottles on the dining room table. "Thank _God._ I need a damn drink." He went over and grabbed one of the bottles, walking over to the now-empty couch.

"I'm going to wait for Lee," Clementine announced. "I hope he'll be back soon."

She turned and went to the backyard before anyone could tell her no. She knew that she would probably get in trouble if she were to leave the yard again, so she just decided to look out the fence and steer clear of the grave.

Clem's walkie-talkie (that she noticed was lying on the counter in the kitchen) made a noise again, and she picked it up.

_"Hello? Clementine?"_ the man on the other side. _"Are you okay, honey?"_

The little girl nodded, although he couldn't see her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Lee's not here right now, I don't know where he is."

_"Oh, did something happen?"_

Clementine told the stranger everything that had happened back on River Street. She heard movement in the background and unknown shouts, causing her to from. "Are you okay?"

_"I'm fine, Clemmy,"_ the man reassured her. _"Where are you right now?"_

"We're at this mansion a few blocks from the river," Clementine explained. "Kenny and I made it back safely, and we have this new girl with us named Molly. She saved our lives, Lee's too."

_"That's wonderful. Oh! I also have a little surprise for you. Do you want to know what it is?"_

"What is it?" Clementine asked hopefully.

_"I don't think you heard me when I tried to tell you before, but I found your parents near the Marsh House!"_

Clem gasped audibly. "You-You did? Can I talk to them?"

_"Not now, sweetheart,"_ the man replied. _"They're asleep right now and probably don't want to be disturbed. Maybe later, okay?"_

"Okay."

_"I have to go now. Shall we make meeting arrangements the next time we talk?"_

"Yeah, absolutely!" Clementine was grinning. The nice man had found her parents, just like he said he would!

_"Alright, good-bye now."_ And the radio signed off.

Clementine was beaming. She was going to see her parents very soon, she just knew it. But for now, she had to stay put. She turned and saw a shed, wanting to make sure that it was all clear.

With a slight tug, the nine-year-old opened up the shed, and her mouth dropped at what she saw. There was a large boat right inside!

She walked closer, into the vine-covered shed, looking at the boat in awe. She was about to turn around to go tell Kenny the news when the door clicked behind her, causing the little girl to jump.

"Huh?" she thought aloud. She pulled at it, it was locked.

Now it was time to find a way out of here.

"Clementine? Clementine!" it was Lee. He was alright!

She was about to call to him when she heard him opening the doors, falling back since it was closed so tightly.

"Lee!" Clementine cried in delight, running over to hug him.

"Hey, girl," the man greeted with a relieved smile, letting go.

"Come look! Look what I found!"

Lee walked over and opened the shed door, his reaction similar to Clementine's when she found the boat. Clem was smiling proudly, she knew that she had done something good. She was imagining the whole group, her parents included, sailing away to safety on this boat.

"Holy shit," said Lee.

"Swear!"

They heard footsteps approaching, and there was Kenny. Kenny looked at the boat for a moment and smiled, dropping the empty bottle of wine that he had in his hand. Maybe he knew that things would be okay after all.

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**And there's the next chapter. I didn't really like Molly all that much, to be honest, but oh well. :P Jane clearly wasn't a favorite of mine either, since she was basically Molly 2.0. But anyways, please leave a review! **


	20. Off To Crawford

**Thank you for the reviews! Also, I forgot to mention, please vote on my new poll located on my profile about my story.**

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"She sure is a beauty, ain't she?" Kenny walked over and stood next to Lee. "Finally, something fucking_ good_ happens."

"We should look it over," Lee replied. "See if there's anything that's missing."

"I'll take care of that," said Kenny. "You and Clem head on inside."

So the pair went inside, and Lee knelt down beside Clementine.

"Clem, stay up in your room while we have a talk downstairs," Lee instructed.

So Clementine obliged and went upstairs to color in the upstairs study for awhile. As she ascended the staircase, she noticed an older-looking man walking out of the bedroom where Omid was currently resting.

"Hi," she greeted him.

The old man looked surprised for just a second, but then looked down. "Well, hello there. You must be Clementine."

Clem nodded. Lee must have brought this man back. "Who are you?"

"My name's Vernon, I'm a doctor," the man explained. "I came here to help out your friend, Omid, right?"

"Uh-huh. Is he okay?"

"He's doing as well as can be expected," Vernon told her. "I have to go get some cloths that the teenager found downstairs. It was nice to meet you, though."

Clementine nodded and went into the study. But it wasn't long before drawing started to get a little boring, so she decided to try and find something else to try and entertain herself with when she heard voices coming from downstairs. She sat down on the stairs and listened in.

"And what do you want in return for all this help you're giving us?" Kenny questioned.

"Crawford doesn't just have what you need for your boat, they're also well-stocked with medical supplies," Vernon explained. "Medicine that my people could use, just as yours could."

"We can do this! We have to!" Christa exclaimed.

"So, it's decided, then?" Kenny announced. "We're going to Crawford?"

_Going to Crawford? For what?_ Clementine thought. She hadn't listened in to the full conversation.

"Anyone else have a problem with this plan?" Lee asked. "Because we're gonna need every one of us to pull this thing off."

_Every one of us? That has to include me! Right?_

"Man, I don't know..." Ben trailed off.

"I don't know about you, kid, but I'd rather take a chance on doing something than just sit around, waiting to die," Kenny told him. "That boat out there is an answered prayer! We just gotta push a little bit farther. Are you in, or out?"

Ben didn't say anything.

"We should go tonight, under cover of dark," Vernon continued. "I'll go let my people know, give everyone a chance to prepare. I'll be back before midnight."

"Be careful," Christa cautioned him.

"That's how I'm still alive." And with that, he walked out of the house.

That was when the discussion ended. Lee walked over to the stairs and saw Clementine watching him.

"I told you to stay in your room," Lee scolded, walking up near her. "How long have you been there?"

"Is it going to be dangerous?" Clem asked.

"Is what gonna be dangerous?"

"...Crawford."

"I can't lie to you, Clem. Yeah, it's gonna be dangerous," Lee answered. "But it's the only way to get the things we need to make Omid better, and get the boat working. Do you understand?"

Clementine felt sad at that answer. "I don't want anyone else to die."

"Neither do I, Clem. But sometimes we have to take that kind of risk."

The little girl nodded understandably, looking sad. Then she stood up. "I guess I should go get ready."

"Huh...say what now?" Lee's tone had changed.

"You said you'd need all of us to do this, and you said I'm a big help, remember?" Clementine reminded him. "Molly said Crawford is the only place in Savannah that still has people. That means it must be where my mom and dad are, right?"

"Where I'm going, it's just too dangerous. For children especially."

"You said I'm supposed to always stay close to _you!"_ Clem had said the same thing earlier in the day, but she wanted Lee to remember that. Lee seemed to think about it, and she continued. "Can't I come with you?"

Lee was silent, thinking about it for a moment. "Okay, you can come. But you have to promise to stay quiet and do exactly what you're told the whole time we're there."

"Okay. I'm gonna go get ready!" Clementine ran up the stairs and to her bedroom, fixing herself up briefly.

The sky got dark rather quickly, and before Clem realized it, it was late at night. She walked downstairs and smiled at Lee. "I'm ready, Lee!"

"Alright, let's go," the man replied, leading her outside.

Molly, Christa, and Ben were standing outside in the middle, while Kenny was examining the boat in the shed. Christa loaded a gun just in case, and Molly was looking over at a map of Crawford.

"Check out what I found in the garage," Kenny announced, walking out. "Hatchet, hacksaw, some other tools. Might come in handy on this little break-in."

"Nice," Lee complimented.

"Can I talk to you a minute?" Kenny asked, pulling Lee to the side.

Clementine walked over to where Molly and Christa were. "What are you looking at?"

"Map of the city, mostly Crawford," Molly explained nonchalantly.

The gate creaked open, and Vernon walked in with a younger woman following.

"Who the hell is this?" Kenny demanded.

"This is Brie, she can help us," Vernon introduced the woman.

"Help us how?" Lee asked.

"I was a student at the school where Crawford keeps their supplies," Brie explained. "I know the layout."

"With her help, we're in and out faster," Vernon confirmed. "Anyone have a problem with that?"

"I guess not," said Lee.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Molly inquired, pulling on her hood. "Let's get moving."

Everyone began going to wards the gate. Clementine was about to follow when Lee stopped her.

"Hold up just a sec," he instructed, kneeling down to her level. "You ready?"

"Ready!" Clem replied with confidence.

"Whoa, hold on a minute. You're not taking _her_ with us!" Vernon looked like he didn't approve. "Did you not hear what I said about the kind of place Crawford is? If you take her in there, and they find her..."

"This little girl's not just excess baggage," Lee explained. "She's gotten us out of a tight spot more than once. She's coming, deal with it."

Clementine beamed at her guardian.

"You heard the man, let's get moving," Kenny announced.

Ben held up a hatchet that Lee took from him, and they were off. Like the walk to the river, the walk to Crawford's square didn't take too long. Clementine was feeling a little tired since she wasn't really used to staying up so late, but she felt like she could handle it.

Before long, the group entered the sewer and came across a ladder.

"This should be it," Vernon spoke up. "We're right underneath the center of Crawford, the school should be directly above us."

"Okay, people, this is it," Lee added. "Remember the plan. We stay quiet, we stay hidden, and we stay together. We find what we need and get the hell out before anyone even knows we're there. Got it?"

Everyone nodded.

Lee bent down to Clem's height. "And that part about staying close? That goes double for you."

Clementine nodded again, and then everyone began climbing the ladder, with Lee in the lead. On the top was a manhole cover, which Lee pushed off. "Let's go," he whispered. The group followed him and climbed out of the sewer.

They snuck over and hid behind some tall grass.

"Where is everybody?" Vernon whispered. "There should be guards patrolling."

"What, are you disappointed?" Kenny scoffed.

"It's just strange, is all."

"I think I see one," Christa pointed out. "Over there, by the door."

"Okay, me and Kenny'll sneak up, try to take him out quiet," Lee instructed. "The rest of you wait for our signal, then follow us over. Everybody got it?" Without a reply, Lee continued. "Okay, Kenny, let's do this quiet. No shooting unless there's no other choice."

"Right behind you," the mustached man replied. He and Lee sneaked over quietly.

Lee's startled, "What the fuck?" caused the "guard" to turn around, only for Lee to realize that he wasn't a guard, but a walker.

Clementine gasped inaudibly, backing away closer to Christa. Lee hit the walker with his hatchet, sending it down in one shot. The group emerged from their hiding spot and walked on over.

"What the fuck is a walker doing inside here?" Lee asked, shocked.

Almost immediately after he had spoken, more and more walkers began appearing out of random hiding places. "Get inside, fast!" Lee cried. Everyone began running in the direction of the school, all of them getting inside just in time.

The group bolted up the stairs and practically slammed into two double doors, getting them open. Vernon and Brie quickly closed them.

"Fuck! Fuck! Do you think they saw us?" Kenny swore.

"No idea," Lee replied.

Clementine had her hands over her ears in fright. Lee's answer had scared her a little bit. She placed her hands back down at her sides and looked around. The school looked like a tornado had run through it, the placed was trashed, and there was paper everywhere.

"What the hell happened here? I thought this place was supposed to be secure!" Christa spoke up.

"What always happens, I guess," Molly answered, turning around. "In the end, the dead always win."

"Oh man, we are so screwed!" Ben panicked as he paced around, his hands behind his head.

"No, this is good," Vernon disagreed.

"What? How the fuck is this good?" Lee wanted to know.

"Before, everyone in Crawford was smart and they had guns," Vernon explained. "Now, they're dumb and they don't. Hey, trying to look on the bright side here."

"I agree. So long as they don't box us in, we can still do this," Kenny responded. "The plan hasn't changed."

"The plan hasn't changed? Every time walkers show up, the plan changes!" Ben argued. "Do you have any idea how many of them are out there?"

"No. You wanna do a headcount?" Christa glared at him. "Or do you wanna get what we need and get the hell out of here?"

Brie walked a little bit away. "Come on, I think I know which way to head."

The group started walking, but Ben was still unsure. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

Clementine noticed his discomfort, and walked over near him. "It's okay, I'll protect you," she told him innocently. "You're my friend." She gave him a small smile and caught up to Lee, hoping that Ben would feel slightly better after her words.

Lee opened the door to what looked like a classroom and peeked in. "Looks okay. Everybody in!"

The group walked inside, and Lee went to the door on the other side, jiggling the locked doorknob. "Figures."

Clementine looked around, and looked a little sad. This classroom almost looked exactly like her classroom back at school. She hadn't been in school since it had ended back in May, and she almost missed it. She would be in second grade now.

"Looks like they were using this room as some kind of command center," Kenny observed.

"Okay, so now what? Where do we start looking?" Molly inquired.

Brie turned to look at a map of the school. "Here. Just give me a sec."

"Where can we find some fuel for the boat?" Lee wanted to know.

"There's a maintenance shed across from the playground here," Brie explained, pointing at another spot on the map. "If they were storing fuel, that's probably where it'll be."

"Any idea where we could find a battery?" Lee continued.

"Maybe at the auto shop," Vernon replied, pointing at an area with the word "motor" on it. "There used to be one in the alley by the fire escape."

"Yup, it called Herman's, you can't miss it," Brie added.

"What about the medicine?" Christa spoke up.

"Right here, nurse's station," said Molly, pointing at the said office. "They were using it as a medical facility."

"How do you know that?" Christa looked suspicious.

"Just...makes sense, doesn't it?" Molly made a face like she was hiding something.

"Okay, I'll make the run to the maintenance shed for the fuel," Kenny announced.

"It'll be faster if I go with you," Brie responded. "I can take you right to it."

"I'll come too," Ben piped up.

"No, two people's enough," said Kenny. "You stay here, see if we can get any of those tools we brought to get that armory door open. We might need to shoot our way out of here."

"I'll go for the medicine," Christa suggested.

"I'll go with you, I know what to take," Vernon told her.

"Okay, I guess that leaves me to go find us a battery," Lee announced.

"I'll go with you, watch your back," Molly added.

"Okay, we got a plan. Everyone be careful," he tossed his hatchet to Kenny, "stay close to one another, we'll meet back here. Good luck."

Most of the group walked out to do their assigned jobs, leaving only Ben, Lee, and Clementine.

Clementine walked over, looking hopeful. "What about me? What can I do?"

"I need you to stay here with Ben and watch after our command center," Lee instructed. "I'm putting you in charge of it, okay?"

Clem looked skeptical. "You're leaving me with Ben?"

"I'm not leaving you with Ben, I'm leaving him with you. Understand?"

The little girl felt better. She was actually in _charge!_ "Ohh, okay!"

Lee stood up. "Back before you know it."

Clementine smiled at him and went over to sit at one of the school desks, watching as Lee left the room. She looked over in Ben's direction, watching as he grumbled and struggled with the doorknob. She glanced around, hoping that everyone would come back soon, and safely.

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**So there's Chapter 20. Not too much left of the story now. Sorry for the lack of Clem's POV here, but oh well. :P ****Also, I forgot to mention, please vote on my new poll located on my profile about my story. Please review!**


	21. He's My Friend: End Of Episode 4

**Thank you for the reviews! This is the last chapter of Episode 4.**

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Ben spent most of the time trying to pick the lock to the armory, but with no avail. Clementine offered to help several times, but the older boy would refuse every time, telling her to just sit and wait.

It wasn't too long, only about twenty minutes later when the youngsters jumped when they here a slamming noise coming from outside the classroom.

"A LITTLE HELP HERE!" Kenny was shouting. "The doors won't close all the way!"

Clementine ran over to the door and opened it, watching as he and Brie were trying to get the doors closed from the walkers outside. Lee was there too, seemingly unable to move.

"Lee, do something!" Brie cried. "Brace the door with something!"

"What's going on?" Ben called over to Clem.

"Walkers are trying to get in!" the little girl responded. "Shouldn't we go-"

She turned around, and was cut off when she saw Lee grab the hatchet from his pocket and place it between the knobs (after a brief struggle), preventing the walkers from being able to enter.

"Oh, Lee took care of it," she finished.

Clementine went back to sit at the desk, keeping watch. She _really_ wished that Duck were here right now, maybe they could've played school together or something, since they were in a classroom. Clem looked down sadly as she thought about her late friend.

The door opened, and in walked Lee, Kenny, and Brie, all miraculously unharmed. The little girl ran to greet them.

"You're back!" she cried.

"Yeah, and we made out pretty good, too," Kenny told her.

"Great work, Kenny!" Ben complimented.

"How are you doing with that door?" the mustached man inquired.

"Not so good."

"Here, let me give you a hand." Kenny walked over to assist Ben with a sigh. "You get that battery yet?" he called over to Lee.

"Yeah, Molly has it," Lee replied. "She should be back here soon."

"She'd better be."

Lee walked over and stood by Clementine's desk. "You okay, Clem?"

"Yeah," she said sadly. She paused. "This desk is just like the ones we have in my school. I know it's weird, but I kind of miss it. Being in school."

"Me too. I used to be a teacher, remember?" Lee reminded her. "Tell you what. When we find a safe place, we'll set up a little classroom, just you and me."

"Will there be homework?" Clementine asked. Homework was one thing that she did _not_ like about the first grade.

Lee smiled. "No homework."

Clem smiled, she liked that idea of having a little school with Lee.

"Where's Molly?" she questioned.

"She had to go run an errand, she'll be back soon," Lee answered.

"I hope she's okay."

"She'll be fine. She's pretty tough."

Clementine then asked her guardian something that she hand been pondering a lot recently. "Do you think things will ever be normal again? Just like the way they were before?"

"I don't think anyone knows the answer to that, Clem," Lee told her. "Maybe there's somebody out there working on a way to fix this. Some kind of cure, maybe. There's just no way to know."

"I hope so."

"That's good, you hold onto that hope. It's the one thing that none of us can take away."

Clementine gave him a smile in return, and he walked away. She watched as Lee and Ben had an unreadable conversation, Lee's face stern and Ben's nervous. After that, Lee left to go check on the medicine progress.

Some loud gunshots were heard, causing Clementine to grip the desk. "What do you think is going on out there?" she asked, although she didn't know who exactly she was talking to.

"Shit, that's going to get us all killed," Kenny muttered.

Clem just looked at the door for the time being, hoping that Lee, Christa, and Vernon would return safely.

"Well, shit," Kenny blurted out a few minutes later. "We'll need something to bust this thing open, our only other option. Ben, I need you to go out and find something."

"Okay," said Ben. He got up and walked out.

But it wasn't long before a door near the front could be heard opening forcefully, and some noises. Clementine immediately jumped up and grabbed the gun off of the table, running out to help.

What she saw shocked her. Molly was struggling against a walker wanting to chomp into her.

"LEE! SHOOT THIS FUCKER!" she hollered.

Clementine pulled out the gun, taking a deep breath like Lee had instructed her, and pulled the trigger. Much to her surprise, the walker fell down dead!

Molly ran over to Lee. "Thanks!"

"It wasn't me..." Lee told her.

"Good going kid, nice shot!" Molly complimented Clem before running off.

"Thanks," the little girl replied, her position temporarily frozen.

Lee looked at her for a moment, before giving her a proud smile. He had taught her well, that was for damn sure. The two of them ran, along with Christa and Vernon, back to the classroom.

"What happened?" Kenny asked.

"They're coming!" Lee cried.

"Oh, shit."

"That oughta hold 'em," said Vernon, walking towards Brie, who was guarding the door.

"Sure, but now how do we get out?" Brie questioned.

"Through the armory!" Kenny responded. "If we can just get this damn door open!"

Ben held the hatchet out to Lee, who took it (more like snatched).

"Come on, damn you!" Kenny swore, banging himself into the armory door.

"This is my fault...all my fault," Ben stuttered.

"What is he babbling about?" Christa wanted to know.

"Ben...we talked about this," Lee warned the teenager.

"No, I want to know what he meant!" Christa demanded. "What do you mean, _this is all your fault?"_

"Kenny, I'm so sorry," Ben truly looked remorseful about something. "I'm so sorry, man."

"Ben, we don't have time for this now!" Lee tried to stop him.

"I'm sorry, Lee. I can't do this anymore. He's got a right to know!"

"Know what?" Christa almost snapped.

"It's been me all along, putting all of us in danger!" Ben explained himself fearfully. "Katjaa and Duck, it was all me. It was all me!"

Right at that, Kenny was able to kick open the armory door, possibly out of extreme rage. "Wait a minute, what are you saying?"

"It was me who made the deal with the bandits at the motor inn, slipping them supplies. I thought it would keep them off our backs. When it got discovered, that's when they attacked. That's when Duck..." Ben couldn't say anymore.

Clementine's mouth was slightly agape. It was _Ben_ that had done this?!

Kenny looked furious, and ran over to attack Ben, but was held back by Lee and Vernon.

"Kenny, calm down!" Lee shouted.

"YOU LITTLE PISSANT! YOU ARE DEAD, YOU HEAR ME? _DEAD!"_ Kenny screamed. "MY WIFE, AND CHILD, YOU GOT THEM BOTH _FUCKING KILLED!"_

Kenny continued to struggle some more, but then accepted defeat.

"Nice group you got here," Molly commented sarcastically.

"Not the time, Molly!" Lee scolded her.

"IF THIS ASSHOLE THINKS HE'S GETTING ON _MY_ BOAT, AFTER WHAT HE DID, HE'S OUT OF HIS MOTHERFUCKING MIND!" Kenny continued. "YOU HEAR ME, SHITBIRD? YOU CAN STAY BEHIND AND FUCKING ROT!"

"Kenny, we'll sort this all out later, AFTER we get out of here, okay?"

"Ain't _nothin'_ to sort out!" Kenny argued. "I just told you the way it's gonna be! The boat's not big enough for all of us, somebody's gotta get left behind, might as well be this piece of shit right here!"

"Well, I vote we leave him," said Christa. "I'm sorry, Ben. I know you mean well, but all I want to do is get back to Omid, and you put that at risk."

"Wait, don't I get a vote?" Clementine asked, stepping up.

"Of course you do!" Lee replied.

"Ben's nice! He's my friend! We _don't_ leave friends behind. That's my vote."

Clementine had told Ben earlier that she was going to protect him, and she was very well determined to keep her word.

Christa paused. "On second thought, I think I'm gonna abstain. Lee?"

The vote was up to Lee.

"I've seen enough of Crawford to know that becoming like them is the beginning of the end," Lee announced. "I vote Ben stays with us!"

Ben smiled, and so did Clementine. Her friend was going to stay.

"What about the rest of us, don't we get a say in-" Brie began, but at that very moment, the walkers began pouring in and feasting on the woman, exposing her intestines in seconds.

Vernon walked a few steps forward. "Brie!"

"Now can we go?" Molly demanded, backing away.

"Damn right! Vernon, come on!" Lee ordered.

The group, now minus Brie, bolted away from the classroom and into the armory, which turned out to be a middle floor of a bell tower. Lee tried to shut the door in, and turned around.

"So much for the armory," Lee commented.

"What's left of it," Kenny added.

"Only a few rounds!" Christa spoke up, referring to the ammo.

Lee turned around and slammed the door right before the walkers could pour through.

"You didn't slam that door behind us?" Kenny asked angrily.

"I couldn't, the lock was busted!" Lee cried.

"Great, just fucking great. There's gotta be a way out down here!"

The group began running down the stairs, but when Lee opened the door, they came face-to-face with more walkers, causing everyone to jump back once they were noticed.

"FUUUUCK!" Kenny yelled.

Lee slammed the door. "That's not gonna hold. Back upstairs!"

Everyone turned around and started running upstairs. Kenny stayed back a moment and tossed a shotgun in Lee's direction.

Clementine couldn't stop running, but she was afraid when she saw Lee still at the bottom, walkers coming out in his direction. She squeaked and continued behind Christa, hoping that Lee would make it.

The group waited for Lee at the top, but he ended up getting his leg caught in one of the steps.

"Lee!" Clementine cried.

"He'll be fine," Christa tried to reassure her, facing Lee. "He'll be fine."

Clem watched as Lee shot some walkers and attempted to pry his leg out. It took exactly four tries before Lee successfully pulled his leg out and continued upstairs, still killing some walkers.

That was when Christa stepped in and helped out by killing some more of them.

There were no more walkers behind Lee now, so he took out the hatchet and began chopping into the ones in front of him, sending them falling to the bottom.

Lee successfully made it to the top unscathed, and a relieved Clementine ran over to hug him.

"It's alright, Clem, I'm fine," Lee told her. They let go, and he walked to the front. "Any way out of here?"

"This leads to the roof, we might be able to find a way down from there," said Christa.

"You didn't come into town from the railroad, did you?" Vernon questioned.

"Yeah, why?" Kenny replied.

"Never mind. I can see the sewer where we came in from here. I think we can do this!"

"Well, what are we waiting for? Go! Go!"

Christa helped Clementine onto the ladder before following her. Kenny followed and stood on the ladder as if to wait for Lee to come out. Not so much for Ben, though.

There was a gunshot from inside, and Clementine screamed. What was going on?

What was taking Lee and Ben so long? She looked up, waiting for them to come out. Kenny called to Lee in an impatient, almost demanding tone. A minute later, both Lee and Ben reappeared safely.

Clementine grinned in relief that her friends were both safe, and ran to stand close to Lee.

The whole walk back to the house was rather uneventful, except for Kenny cursing Ben under his breath, muttering how "Lee should have just dropped his stupid ass," and words like that.

The group arrived at the mansion and went upstairs to Omid's room. Omid was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, and no one knew whether he was dead or just sleeping.

"Christa? Everything okay?" Lee wanted to know.

"Omid!" she cried, running over to her boyfriend's side and taking his hand.

"Clem, stay back," Lee warned. "Don't get any closer."

"I never should've left you, I'm so sorry!" Christa exclaimed, close to tears.

"Christa, get away from him!" Vernon called.

At that, Omid started moving. No one knew what was happening, so Lee went over and pulled Christa back just in case something had happened. But Omid looked at them and smiled.

"Hey, back already?" he asked. He had probably been asleep the whole time.

Christa was relieved, and knelt closer. "We got you medicine!"

"Good, feel like I could use some," Omid replied. Vernon walked over and popped some in his mouth. Once the medicine was in, Omid turned to Ben. "You okay, kid? You look worse than I do."

"We almost didn't make it out of there because of this asshole," Kenny replied. "Should've left him behind when we had the chance."

Clementine decided to walk out of the room then, not wanting to hear anymore. She walked over to the study where she had played before leaving last night, and began to think about things.

What if she wouldn't see her parents before they went off on the boat? She highly doubted that she was going to be meeting this man, her friend, anytime soon. Or ever, even.

Clem saw Kenny walking towards the boat and working on it. Tensions were so high, and it was awful. Who was going to be left behind? Maybe it would have to be her.

The door creaked open, and Lee's voice was heard. "Hey, sweet pea."

"Kenny's working on the boat," Clem informed him.

"I know."

"What are we gonna do? After he fixes it? Where are we gonna go?"

"Someplace else. Someplace better," Lee replied. He noticed her sad expression. "Clem, honey. What's wrong?"

"Is Ben going to be okay?" Clementine asked. "He hasn't been the same since we got back."

"Well, he's been through a lot, Clem," said Lee. "He's just gotten a little overwhelmed, that's all. I'm sure he'll be fine."

"Before we leave tomorrow, will we have time to look for my parents?"

"I'd like to, Clem, but we may not have time," Lee responded. "We really shouldn't stay here any longer, it's not safe."

Clementine didn't like that answer. She had a feeling that she wouldn't see her mom or dad ever again, whether that man had them or not. The thought overwhelmed her, and she began to cry.

"Hey, don't cry," Lee tried to comfort her.

But she turned away and lay down, sobbing into her hands. Lee didn't try to do anything else, just let her cry. After awhile, Clementine just cried herself to sleep. She felt very tired.

A sound woke her up the next morning, coming from her walkie-talkie. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. Lee was asleep in the chair across from her, and obviously hadn't woken up from the noise.

_"Hello?"_ It was that man! _"Clementine?"_

Clem walked over and picked up the radio, walking out of the room. "Hi, I'm here."

_"Honey, I think it's time for me to take you to your parents at the Marsh House,"_ the man told her. _"Are you ready to meet up?"_

The little girl thought about that for a moment. She didn't want to leave Lee, but she wanted to see her parents too. Maybe she could bring them back with her.

"Yes," she decided. "Okay, I'll meet you. Are you coming?"

_"I'm already here, Clemmy. I'm right outside the fence."_

"Okay, I'll be right out," she whispered.

Clementine smiled, and began her stealthy walk outside. She saw Omid (who was able to walk better) walk towards the bathroom, but hid before he could see her. She smiled. Perfect!

It wasn't easy to just walk out without being caught, but somehow Clementine was able to do it. She went outside to the backyard and spoke into the walkie-talkie. "I'm outside now. Where are you?"

At that, the man appeared from around a corner and gave her a smile and a wave. He looked to be around his forties, and wore a brown coat.

Clementine noticed him and ran out the gate and to the other side, so quickly that she didn't even noticed that her hat dropped off of her head.

"Hello, Clementine, we finally meet," the stranger greeted warmly. "Are you ready to see your parents? They're waiting for us at the hotel right now!"

"Uh-huh!" Clem nodded. She turned around and decided to leave her walkie-talkie so that she could keep in contact with Lee. The man she was now with had the other one.

The stranger took her hand and led her to his car, the very same station wagon that had been in the forest barely over a week ago.

Clementine couldn't help but notice, on the way, the walker that looked to be hiding under some kind of board.

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**And there's Episode 4, Around Every Corner. Episode 5 will revolve almost completely around Clementine now, since she'll be with the stranger. I don't know how many chapters the next episode will cover, I'm hoping that it'll be five like the others. If you guys could maybe give me some ideas that would be highly appreciated, although I do have some plans. Please, please leave a review! :D**

**My Episode Choices: **

**I killed the boy in the attic**

**I was rational and honest with Vernon**

**I brought Clementine with me to Crawford**

**I pulled Ben up**

**I showed the bite**

**I was able to get everyone to go with me to find Clementine.**


	22. True Colors, True Intentions

**Thank you for reviewing. I've decided on three chapters with the stranger, since the episode is also a bit shorter. This chapter and the next may be slightly shorter as well. I sincerely apologize if I mess up characterization in any way. :P Okay, on with the story!**

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"Are you excited to see your parents again, sweetie?" the man asked warmly as they drove to the Marsh House.

Clementine still wondered why he had never told her his actual name, and only referred to himself as "a friend," but nonetheless, she nodded vigorously. "Yeah! We're almost there, right?" she asked excitedly.

"Just five or so more minutes, then we'll be there."

The man pulled in front of the Marsh House in exactly that amount of time, getting out and opening Clem's passenger side door for her. Luckily, there was a clear enough path to the entrance so that neither would get bit by a walker.

When they got inside, the man led Clementine to the second-to-top floor, and the two entered one of the end rooms.

"Okay, Clementine, your parents are just through that door, right over there," the man informed her, pointing to the door across from the closet.

Clementine beamed and ran towards the door. "Mom! Dad!"

She swung the door open, and was confused. The room was just a bathroom, with not a soul inside. The nine-year-old was stunned, had this man lied to her? Where were her parents?

She whirled around and faced the stranger. "My parents aren't in here. You-You lied to me!"

The man looked almost remorseful. Almost. But he bent down next to her. "Sweetheart, I don't really have your parents," he informed her. "I had to lie to you, so that you would come to me."

"But why?"

He sighed. "Clemmy, that man you were with, Lee, he was a very, very bad man," he explained. "How many times has he put you in danger? Being with him wasn't safe for you. This is for your own good."

"N-No!" Clementine shook her head quickly. "Please, j-just let me go! I want _Lee!"_

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you go. You'll be safe here with me. I'm going to take you in a little while, we're going to leave Georgia and find someplace safe, alright? Just the two of us."

But Clem began charging towards the door, breathing hard. But the stranger was too quick for her, he grabbed her again before she could even turn the knob. He looked angry, squeezing her shoulders too tightly for her liking.

"I'm going to need you to cooperate for me, sweetheart, if your precious Lee wants to live to see tomorrow."

All Clementine could do was nod, her breaths shaky. A few whimpers escaped her lips.

The stranger put an arm around her shoulder in a fatherly gesture. "Now, I want you to sit down and tell me everything, everything, that has happened to you since the very beginning of this mess. Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes," Clementine replied. She slowly walked in defeat over to one of the two chairs. The stranger sat across from her, a gun in his lap.

"You may begin, Clementine."

Clem stared at the floor, it wasn't like she had any choice.

"L-Lee found me in my treehouse, th-the first day this all happened," she explained. "My parents went on a vacation here, and left me with m-my baby-sitter, Sandra. But she got bit, and told me to hide."

"And then Lee found you?"

Clementine nodded, staring at the floor. "We met these two people, Shawn and Chet, a-and they took us to Shawn's farm. We met Kenny and his family there, b-but the next day, Shawn got his leg trapped under a tractor, and...he died. Lee tried to save him."

The stranger nodded, looking quite angry. "Uh-huh. Continue, please, Clementine."

"We went to a drugstore, and met these people," Clem explained. "Lilly, her dad Larry, Carley, Doug, and...I think Glenn. Doug and Carley got trapped, and Lee...he went to save Carley. Doug got eaten up."

At that, the stranger banged his fist on the chair. "Keep. Going," he hissed.

Clem squeezed her eyes shut, fearful that if she didn't obey, he would kill Lee and possibly everyone else. "W-We stayed at this motel for three months, but then, we got hungry. These people who seemed nice, they invited us to their farm. We were offered dinner, but this lady killed one of our friends and tried to feed his legs to us." She felt sick remembering the St. John family.

This time, there was no comment, only a nod.

"We...had to leave the motel because we got attacked," Clementine continued. "Lilly thought Carley brought the bandits, so she killed her. And we ended up leaving her. Duck was bitten, and...he died. So did his mom." She swallowed a lump, not wanting this man to see her cry. "Then we met these two people named Omid and Christa, and took them to Savannah with us."

The stranger only looked at her darkly.

"O-Omid got really sick because he jumped and hurt his leg. We went to Crawford, and got supplies. But we...we almost died because lots of walkers chased us, and almost got us. Lee almost died."

The stranger placed his head in his hands. "Okay. Thank you, Clemmy. That's all I wanted to know."

"What...what are you going to do with me?"

"If you cooperate and act like a _good girl,"_ the stranger said firmly, "then I'll let you stay out until we leave. But if you don't, I'll have to punish you until then, in that room right there." He nodded towards the bathroom.

He got up and just stood there for a moment or two.

"C-Can I talk to Lee? Please?" Clementine asked in a small voice. She gave him the puppy dog eyes.

The stranger sighed. "Alright. But only this one time, or I'm punishing you. I'm going to take it from you if I need to talk to him, alright?"

"O-Okay."

Clementine walked over to the bed, and pressed a button on the walkie-talkie. She hoped that Lee had the other one. "Lee?"

Almost instantly, Lee replied. _"Clementine! Are you all right? Where are you?"_

Clem opened her mouth to speak, but the stranger immediately snatched the walkie-talkie from the nine-year-old and glared at her.

_"Vernon, you son of a bitch!"_ Lee snapped.

"Hello, Lee," the stranger spoke into the radio.

_"Who is this?"_ Lee demanded.

"It's not Vernon, if that's what you're thinking," the stranger responded. "And you should really watch your tone. Clementine's fine, but if I were you, I would choose my next words _very_ carefully."

_What is he gonna do to me?_ Clementine thought, scared. _Please don't hurt Lee!_

_"What do you want from me?"_ Lee asked. _"I'll do it, and you can let her go!"_

The stranger paused. "I want you to never hurt anybody again," he informed Lee. "This isn't a kidnapping, Lee."

_"Then what is it?"_

"...A rescue."

He put the walkie-talkie on the little table between the chairs, and walked back over to Clementine.

"A r-rescue?" Clem stuttered. "What do you mean?"

The stranger looked at her sadly. "You wouldn't have lasted another week if you were with Lee, Clementine. I already told you, you'll be safe with me." He knelt down to her level. "I had two children of my own. My son, Adam, he's a bit younger than you, only seven years old. And Elizabeth, or Lizzie...she was only eleven."

"Oh..."

He sat on the bed. "Clementine, when your people...when they stole from our car, tensions became high. We'd already lost Adam, and had just come back from looking for him. He went missing after I took him hunting, but my wife said that he was too young. The next day, she took Elizabeth and left. And then...I found them. They were dead. Do you understand why I took you now?"

Although she really didn't, Clementine nodded anyway.

"Good girl." He got up. "Now, if I catch you talking to Lee again, or giving him your location, you'll be locked in that room right there, like I told you. Can you be a good girl for me while I run and get some supplies from some of the rooms?"

"Yes..." Clementine replied, albeit quietly.

The stranger smiled and placed a cold hand on her cheek. "You're going to be a great daughter, sweetheart, I just know it."

And with that, he left the room.

**\\\\**

**Sorry this kind of sucked, but oh well. :P And yes, I'm aware that the stranger did keep Clementine locked in a room, but I doubt that she was in there for the entire time, since she was briefly in contact with Lee twice.**

**Please be sure to review. There's not much left to the story now!**


	23. Rescued

**So I had a bad case of writer's block for this chapter, everything I came out with felt too short (only like 800 words). So Lee is going to reappear in this chapter instead of the next one, so I'm sorry. :/ Thank you for the reviews, though! I always appreciate those. :)**

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"Clementine, can you do me a _huge_ favor?" the stranger approached her with a medium-sized box. For the past several hours, the stranger had been preparing for leaving Georgia with Clementine. He had found some essentials - clothes, some bottled water he had found, etc. - in some of the rooms on the same floor. "I need you to take this box and sort through the children's clothing, pick out your size. Okay?"

The little girl could only nod, taking the box. She refused to speak to this man unless she absolutely had to.

Clementine had contemplated trying to get in contact with Lee again, but was afraid that the stranger would catch her and lock her in the tiny bathroom. So she had been, in the man's eyes, "cooperating" and doing what she was told.

She knew that trying to escape wasn't exactly a good idea, since she knew that she would be caught, and maybe even killed. Plus, Lee was already out looking for her anyway, and the others were possibly with him.

As Clem searched through the box placed on the bed, she picked up a shirt that reminded her of home. It was one of those shirts that she and her mother would match up in sometimes, just because.

She held the shirt tightly to her chest. "I miss you, Mom and Dad," she said to no one in particular. "Where are you?"

"I'm sorry to tell you, sweetheart," the stranger replied from behind her, making her jump, "but they're probably dead. Otherwise, they probably would have found you by now. You might not have had to even meet Lee."

"You're saying that because you want them to be dead, don't you?" Clementine looked away sadly.

"Of course not, Clementine," the stranger assured her in a sickeningly sweet tone. "I'm just saying that if they were alive, you would be safer. But they're not, and Lee put you in very grave danger. I'm so very sorry."

He got up and went to the other side of the room to collect water bottles from a box. Clementine tossed the shirt aside, and tears began pouring from her eyes. She refused to let out any sobs in fear that the stranger would hear her cry, and try to comfort her.

The _only_ person she wanted to comfort her, other than her parents, was Lee.

Clementine wiped away her tears and continued to search through the clothes, only finding a pair of little girls' jeans in her size. Not really any use.

"Find anything, darling?" the stranger asked.

"Just...just these pants," Clem responded, holding them out.

He smiled. "Wonderful. Those will keep your legs warm for the winter."

"I guess..."

There was a pause. "Clemmy, I'm going to try and find some supplies on the floor beneath us. Can I trust you not to contact Lee while I'm gone?"

Clem nodded. "Yes," she lied. But she had other plans.

"Good girl," the stranger gave her a smile, and left the room.

She decided to wait a couple minutes, when the stranger was well out of sight and earshot, before getting in contact with Lee. Best of all, the stranger had left the walkie-talkie sitting right where she could get to it.

Clementine ran over and pressed the button. "Lee?" she asked quietly, but loudly enough for him to (hopefully) hear her. "Lee!" she looked towards the door. No one was coming. "I'm okay, I'm where my parents-"

She heard footsteps quickly approaching, and there was the stranger, glaring at her. "Oh, no!"

He walked over and snatched the radio from her small hands, and then bent down to her level. _"What did I tell you about contacting Lee?"_

His voice was no longer gentle, or fatherly. Clementine could only stare at him fearfully. For a moment, just a moment, the stranger didn't do anything. He just got up and continued to glare down at her. What really seemed to scare Clem was his height, he towered over her.

It happened so quickly, Clementine was almost dazed. The stranger raised his hand and slapped her hard across the face, sending her down to the floor. The little girl cupped her sore cheek, looking up.

"I-I'm sorry!" she whimpered. "I'm sorry!"

The stranger hauled her to her feet and grabbed her arm hard. He opened up the bathroom door and shoved her inside, slamming and locking it behind her.

Clementine immediately began pounding on the door. "Let me out!"

"I'm sorry, Clementine," the man answered in a dangerously low voice, "but I told you that I would punish you if you were bad. Now because of your actions, you're going to be in there until it's time to leave."

Clem jiggled the lock, but it wouldn't budge. She heard the stranger working on something just outside the door, and when she tried the knob again, it wouldn't move at all. Not even so much as a jiggle.

"I hope this teaches you a lesson in respect, sweetheart," the stranger informed her. His footsteps became quieter and quieter.

So now, Clementine was defenseless and utterly, completely helpless. She sat down against the door in the dark room, hugging her knees to her chest. She wasn't even in there for too long, maybe about a half house at most, when negative thoughts began swimming through the young girl's mind, thoughts that no child should ever have to process.

_What if I never see my parents again? What if Lee-_

She heard the closing of a door, and the stranger's voice. "I got us adjoining rooms."

"Where is she?"

This was a new voice, and it sounded a _lot_ like Lee! Clementine got up and put her ear against the door.

"I already told you. She's fine. You look horrible."

_What's going on?_ Clem thought.

"Go over there," the stranger continued. "Put your things down."

Clementine banged on the door, wanting to know her answer. "Let me out! Who's out there?"

There was no answer. Instead, the loading of a gun was heard. "Shh!" Then, the stranger called to her. "Quiet please, sweetie...your things. There."

"This is all I've got, okay?"

It _was_ Lee!

But Clem was afraid to call to him, in fear and worry that the stranger would kill him and take her away. So right now, she had no other choice but to listen in on was Lee and the man had to say. But, she was also going to try and get out somehow.

"Do you know who I am?" the stranger asked.

"No, I don't know anything about you."

"You wouldn't. People like you don't," the stranger scoffed. "Now you're thinking, 'who would have it out for me,' huh? A few weeks back...there might have been a station wagon in the forest? Full of all sorts of food, water. Things you _need_...to survive. Yeah. I'm not some cannibal, Lee. Some killer out in the forest. Some v-villain. I'm just a...dad. I coach little league."

By now, Clementine's eyes were used to the darkness. She scanned the bathroom for things that looked useful to help, but nothing was there. She could hear the stranger telling Lee what he had told her earlier, what had happened to his family.

"Do I look like a monster to you?" the stranger finally inquired.

"We all do," said Lee.

"I'm not like you," the stranger informed him. His voice took on a more firm, serious tone. "You walked a little girl into a dairy full of sick people and let them get their hands on her!"

Clementine gasped. _The St. Johns!_

"I was trying to find someplace safe for her," Lee defended himself.

"You left a defenseless, grieving woman on the side of the road."

_Lilly._

"She deserved it."

"You brought her to the most dangerous place in this city, where she could have _died!"_ the stranger's voice rose.

_Crawford._

"I couldn't leave her at the house alone!" Lee replied.

"SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF!"

There was a pause. And then Lee's remorseful, "How could you know all this?"

The stranger didn't say anything, or at least Clementine didn't hear him. She felt around and grabbed a toothpick from the counter, hoping that it would be at least somewhat useful.

"You're a monster. You're a murderer, and a thief. And I'm going to hurt you so bad."

Clem gasped, she had to get out, quickly. She began pushing the toothpick into the little knob hole, vigorously trying to get the door unlocked and the rope cut.

"I didn't steal from you!" Lee yelled.

"But think of everything else you _did,"_ the stranger reminded him. "After I found Clementine on my radio, I wasn't even mad at you. I was coming for the others, for revenge. But the more I heard about the things you did, and the danger she was in, our plan changed. Lee, listen to me. I need you to hear this before what happens next. I can take care of her. We can have a family."

_No! I don't want to go with you!_ Clem thought.

"I bet you don't even know how old she is," the stranger added.

"She's eight."

"Wrong. She's _nine."_

Clementine bit her bottom lip. She now regretted not telling Lee, or anyone, her real age.

"But-"

"Her birthday was six days ago." A pause. "I know how to be a dad, Lee. She wouldn't be exposed to what she has been with you."

"No, shut up," Lee demanded.

"That makes sense."

"It's _not_ happening. You'll have to kill me."

"Yeah, I know," the stranger scoffed.

Clementine was finally able to get the door unlocked. The toothpick had gone through the hole, feeling like a button had been pushed. The door unlocked, and the rope cut loose. Clem peeked out, and Lee was surprised to see her.

Lee nodded in the direction of the meat cleaver, one of his weapons. The little girl walked over and quietly grabbed it, and then tip-toed over to the stranger, standing beside him for a moment.

"I miss you so much, Tess," the stranger rambled on. "You're going to like Clementine a lot, though. She's not Lizzie, but she's sweet. She wouldn't hurt a fly."

As if to prove that irony, Clementine nailed the meat cleaver into the stranger's shoulder, stunning him.

Lee jumped out of his chair and tackled the stranger. The two wrestled for a moment, the gun dropping from the stranger's hands. It flung near the closet. He tried to get it, but Lee got up in time and began to strangle him after a headbutt.

Clem stood and watched in horror, her position was practically frozen.

The stranger was pressed against the wall, unable to move. At the last moment, the stranger let out a sigh and fell to the floor. Lee had strangled him to death. He looked over at the gun, still lying there, and picked it up. He fired the last bullet in the stranger's head to prevent him from turning.

"H-He would've come back," Clementine informed him.

"That's right, sweet pea."

She ran over to hug him. "I'm sorry," she whimpered. "I'm sorry."

"Shh," Lee comforted, patting her back. "It's okay. It's okay."

Clementine smiled, as the two let go.

"Did he hurt you?" Lee asked.

"No...not really," the little girl responded, not wanting to tell her guardian about the slap to her face.

"Good. Let's go."

**\\\\**

**And that's where I'll end it. Episode 5 will be four chapters, like Episode 1 (including the epilogue). I would get some tissue boxes for the next chapter, you guys. It's going to be hell to write. :'( But as always, please review!**


	24. Our Final Goodbye

**I recommend you all get your tissue boxes and ice cream ready. Here we go...:'(**

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"You don't smell good," Clementine pointed out nervously.

Just what, exactly, had happened? Lee's face was much paler than it should've been, and he looked sick.

"We need to get you somewhere safe, and then we have to talk, okay?" Lee informed her.

"Yeah."

"Everything's okay now. We need to figure out how to get out of Savannah as fast as we can."

Clementine turned around sadly, taking one last gaze at the stranger, who now had a bullet in his head. Lee noticed this, and turned around too. With a sad look, he turned back to the little girl.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said regretfully.

"He was going to kill you!"

"And take you, yeah."

Lee walked over and looked into the bowling bag, seeing the undead head of the stranger's wife, Tess. Clementine flinched away slightly, and Lee looked at her.

"Don't look in there."

"No. I know," Clem obliged easily.

Lee turned around and went to open the door. On the other side was a walker, one that seemed to have just recently turned.

The walker only stood there and looked at Lee, not even biting into him or anything. This shocked Clementine a little, why was the walker just looking at her guardian blankly? Lee pushed the walker down and shot him in the head.

"It...it didn't bite you!" Clementine exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know. It must've..."

"You're covered in all that...gross...stuff."

"I had to get through a bunch of them to get here." There was a pause. "That's how we'll get out of Savannah."

Lee walked over and grabbed the meat cleaver, bringing it towards the walker.

Clementine, realizing what he was going to do, walked towards Lee. "Oh, no..."

Lee took out an intestine, and Clem looked away. The smell was unbearable, and now she and Lee were going to smell like that, too. The man began smearing the walker guts all over Clementine's yellow shirt.

"Ugh...ugh...ewwww," the little girl moaned. She shuddered as the cold guts were rubbed all over her. She turned around so that Lee could smear her back.

"We'll get you cleaned up as soon as we can," Lee reassured her.

"Not soon enough."

Clem shuddered as Lee continued to smear her back. The guts felt very cold and slimy, and the smell was just the icing on the grossest cake ever.

"Are you done?" she inquired.

"A little more. I want to be sure."

Lee smeared some more guts on the front, and then he was done."

"There, that should do it," he concluded.

Clementine looked up at him sadly. "I hope so."

"And you're missing something." Lee reached into his back pocket and pulled out none other than her hat.

"I thought it was gone!" she cried, taking it and placing it on her head.

"I thought you were gone."

"Thank you." She gave him a smile.

Lee knelt down next to her. "Stay right next to me and walk very slowly," he instructed. "Don't look around, and don't panic."

"Uh-huh."

"I'll keep you safe."

He got up and walked out, and Clementine followed.

They walked down the stairs and to the front, when a clap of thunder was heard. It was going to rain, and soon. The pair looked up, and there were dozens beyond dozens of walkers wandering around slowly, yet aimlessly.

Lee put his hand on Clementine's back, and the two began their slow walk to a safe place.

They were almost halfway out of the herd when Clementine thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye, and stopped dead in her tracks. Her worst fears were confirmed, when the walker version of her mother, Diana, looked up. Ed was right directly next to her, also undead.

Clem could only stand there as tears blurred her vision, just threatening to fall. _My parents are really gone. They're dead..._

"Clem...don't..." Lee tried to talk, but fell forward before he could finish.

The little girl gasped in horror. "Lee!" she whispered.

She looked around slowly, and the began dragging the unconscious Lee by the arms, although it was hard to do that and act like a walker at the same time. There was no time to mourn right now, she had to get Lee out of here.

Clementine slowly dragged Lee away from all the horrors from outside, and caught her eye on an old jewelry store up ahead. She began dragging Lee towards it, and eventually succeeded.

There was a small opening, just big enough for the both of them to fit through. Clem pushed Lee, who was still unconscious, inside, and then crawled through herself. She dragged Lee towards the middle, and then went to lock the garage like door.

She then went over and sat next to Lee, shaking him.

"Lee, wake up!" she cried. "Please don't be dead, please no!"

Much to her relief, Lee opened his eyes. He looked even sicker than he was when he'd come to get her. His eyes were yellow, and he looked very tired. He'd felt very hot when Clementine was shaking him.

"Lee!" she cried. "I-I was so scared. I-I thought you left me! I-I...I saw my parents."

"Come here, sweet pea," Lee whispered. She laid her head on his chest, and he wrapped his arms around her.

"They're dead, they really are!" Clem told him.

The two let go, and Lee tried to get up. He grunted, but he was successful...for now.

"Clementine, we have to get out of here as fast as we can," he explained weakly.

"We can't! There's thousands of them outside!"

"We have to. We'll push through them...I'll protect you."

"No, no, that's crazy!" Clem cried. "I saved you, we're safe here, I locked us in!"

Lee looked surprised, as if she shouldn't have done that. "Get that door open!"

"I can't!"

"Do it!" Lee demanded.

He got up, and the two walked towards the door.

"It was only a little open when I found it," Clem explained as she tried to open the door. "I closed it to keep us safe!"

"Pull on three," Lee instructed. "One...two...three."

Both Lee and Clementine grunted as they tried to haul the garage-like door open, but it was no use. They were both too weak to even pull out an attempt.

Lee slouched and began coughing.

"See?" Clementine asked.

There was a pause. "Clementine, honey..."

He held his left arm out, revealing a bite mark. No! _That_ was the reason Lee was so weak?!

"What...what...what happened?" she wanted to know, near tears. "No. No, that's not...no, no, NO!"

"Yes, Clem, it is," Lee corrected, giving her an apologetic look.

Clementine began breathing hard.

"I'm sorry, Clementine," he continued. "I'm supposed to take care of you. I can't now."

"I know," Clem realized. Crying was becoming a dangerously close feeling.

Lee got up, slowly but surely.

"I think there might be a way out over there," said Clementine, looking towards an office with an exit on the other side. There was a walker that looked to be a former security guard sitting in a chair.

"Good. Good girl," Lee praised. "Let's go. I might be a little slow."

He walked about two steps, and then almost fell over. But Clem was there to catch him, and guide him.

"I'll help you."

Poor Lee had to hold onto the table he was holding, and began walking very slowly. Clementine put her hand on his back, and helped him walk. About halfway, Lee stopped and almost fell over.

"I got you," Clem assured him. "You can lean on me if you have to."

"I'm okay."

"I thought I was helping by bringing you in here."

"You couldn't have known," Lee defended her. "I should have told you..."

"...It was scary at the hotel."

"Yeah."

"Keep going. We're almost there."

The two continued to walk slowly, until Lee finally gave up and practically fell next to a table.

Clementine ran over, already crying a little. "Get up, Lee! The door's right here!"

Lee tried to get up, but he was much too weak. He plopped back down.

"I can't."

"You have to!" Clem cried, gasping between little sobs.

"Clem, I can't move. This is it for me here."

"Please, please, _try_ to get up!"

For his sweet pea, Lee tried again. But it was no use.

"I can't," he said. "You don't have much time. You gotta do something, fast."

"Like what?"

"You have to get out of here as soon as you can."

"I-I can't leave you!"

"Just work on getting out, okay? We'll figure it all out, don't worry," he reassured her. "The way out's through there, Clem. Just...start by getting that door open."

"It's locked!" Clementine jiggled the knob.

"It's no big deal," Lee spoke barely above a whisper. "It's just a glass window."

Clementine punched the glass, but didn't break it. Her little hand wasn't quite strong enough.

"Ow."

Lee turned his head slowly to his left. "There's a baseball bat under the counter, Clem. You can use that."

The little girl ran to get it, and then came back.

"Use that bat to smash that window, so you can reach in, okay?" Lee instructed.

"Okay," Clem replied, walking over.

"Watch out for broken glass."

Clementine smashed the window, and tossed the baseball bat aside. The walker that was inside looked over and began its low growling. The nine-year-old looked inside, and shuddered.

"Don't be afraid of him, honey," Lee told her. "You're smart. He isn't. You're smarter than all of them." He paused. "Grab the chair, Clem. Use it to reach in, to the lock."

She obliged, climbing up and unlocking the door from the other side. She stood there, waiting for Lee's next instructions.

"Clem, open it."

She did so. "He's-He's trapped!"

"This'll be easy, then," said Lee. "He's got keys, probably to that door, and everything you need."

Clementine looked over to Lee, then to the walker.

"There are handcuffs on the ground," Lee noted. "Grab them."

"...Okay, Lee."

Clem reached down and grabbed them.

"Put the cuffs on the walker," Lee instructed. "That way, he can't get to you."

"O-Okay..." she went over and obeyed, careful as though she wouldn't get bit.

"He's trapped over there, that way you can get what you need from him."

"Wh-What should I grab first?"

"The keys. In case you have to make a run for it."

Clementine walked over and began slowly reaching for the keys, when somehow, the walker became free from the handcuffs and tried to attack her. She let out a deafening, ear-splitting scream.

The walker tried to drag Clementine back, and she tried to crawl away. A stand holding an antique-like item fell, and the item hit Lee on the head, knocking him unconscious once again.

"LEE!" Clementine screamed.

Luckily, Lee woke up a moment later. He reached out weakly and pushed the baseball bat over to Clementine. She grabbed it and began hitting the walker over the head with the bat several times, just until she knew he was dead. Some of the blood splashed onto her face.

"I did it...I got him..." Clem told Lee.

"Come here," Lee whispered.

Clementine walked over and took Lee's hand in hers. He gave it a light squeeze.

She got up then, and picked up the keys and the gun before turning to Lee, kneeling next to him. Lee was going to die. He was going to die, and there was nothing that she could do to save him anymore.

"Hey," he spoke softly. "You're strong, Clem. You-You can do anything."

Clementine was crying now. "But...I'm little."

"Doesn't mean nothin'. You're gonna see bad stuff, but...it's okay."

"My parents...it's so horrible!" Clem sobbed.

"I can't imagine, sweet pea."

"And now...you? _Please..._Please don't become one of them! Please don't become a walker!"

"There's only one thing you can do," Lee told her. "You know that."

"I don't know if I can..." Clementine told him.

"You have to shoot me, honey."

"Lee, noooo..." she whimpered.

"It's okay. It's okay," Lee comforted her. "Clem, when I was standing over Duck, holding that gun...it was so hard. I'm sorry you're in that position now. I'd give anything for you not to be. But you just have to point it at me, close your eyes, and be thankful that you never have to see me as one of them. You can do it, I know you can."

"Okay, Lee...I can do it. I can!" She couldn't stop crying, she wished that this was all a bad dream.

"Find Omid and Christa," Lee instructed. "They're outside of town, by the train."

Clementine looked down and nodded sadly, the tears flowing out. She let out some quiet sobs.

"And Clem..."

She looked up.

"Keep that hair short."

"I will. I'll cut it myself."

"Great. Good. And also..." Lee could barely speak now. His eyes could barely stay open. It looked like he was sleeping for a moment.

Clementine looked at him. "What? What is it?"

He was now able to speak. "No, don't worry. All right."

What was he trying to say?

"I'll miss you."

She looked at him, her vision blurred by floods of tears. "Me, too."

It was now time to put Lee out of his misery. She got up, and he seemed to be taking one last look at her. If he had anymore words, he couldn't say them now. It was too late for them.

Clementine was still crying as she closed her eyes and tilted the gun. She shot Lee straight in the head. Opening her eyes, she saw her worst fear: Her guardian with a bullet in his forehead. Lee hit the radiator to the right.

Clementine dropped the gun and sobbed into her hands. Lee was dead.

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**Oh no, I wasn't crying during the whole chapter or anything...;_; GODDAMN IT! But yeah, THAT was painful to write. Anyway, this concludes Episode 5: No Time Left. There will be a final chapter consisting of the epilogue. Please leave a review!**

**My Episode Choices:**

**I kept the arm**

**I didn't lose my temper with Kenny**

**I kept my weapons**

**I killed the stranger**

**I had Clementine shoot me**


	25. Epilogue

**Here is the final chapter of Through Her Eyes, although it's a bit short. Thank you all for reading and reviewing!**

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Clementine knew that she couldn't stay and mourn Lee. It was time to go. Her sobs had died down, but the tears still swam in her golden eyes. She got up, and took the keys and the gun, heading for the door.

She turned around and took one last look at Lee. There was a pool of blood beginning to surround his body. Clementine knew that this wasn't some bad dream, some nightmare. Lee was never going to wake up, he would never play with her or call her "sweet pea" ever again. He was gone.

Wiping her eyes, Clem unlocked the door and trudged up the stairs. It was time to begin her search for Omid and Christa.

Luckily, the back area was clear of walkers when Clementine exited the building, but she kept her gun ready just in case.

Night was falling, and she hoped that she would be able to see once she arrived at the train. Hopefully Omid and Christa, along with Kenny and Ben, would be there, waiting for her. Clem wondered why Lee hadn't mentioned the latter two.

She heard bells coming from the church about a mile away. _Molly must be ringing them again,_ she thought.

Clementine stopped dead in her tracks when she reached the outside of Savannah. The train was still where it stood, but not a soul in sight. She decided to peek in the boxcar to see if anyone was there.

"Christa?" she called in a small voice. "K-Kenny?"

But there was no one there. Clementine decided to sleep in here for the night since it was getting late. She closed the boxcar door and reopened it to test it, make sure that she could get out. She could.

Clem laid down on Chuck's mattress and curled herself up in a tiny ball. She reached into her dress pocket and pulled out the torn photo of Lee, alive and well, smiling for the camera before this apocalypse.

The little girl hugged the photo close to her chest and cried herself to sleep.

She woke up multiple times throughout the night, mostly from recurring nightmares about her parents and Lee getting eaten. Once, she had woken up screaming for Lee, waiting for him to gather her in his strong arms and tell her that it would be all right, that he wasn't going anywhere.

But he had.

Clementine woke up lastly early in the morning, a little after the sun had risen. For a moment, she didn't know where she was, until the events of yesterday had sunk in. Her lip quivered, but she had to stay strong. She opened the boxcar and hopped down from the train, continuing her search for Christa and Omid, just walking alone.

But then, the all-too familiar sounds of moaning and groaning came from behind her. She gasped and turned around. Three walkers were approaching her.

Clementine pointed her gun at the first one, aiming carefully, and holding her breath before pulling the trigger, just like Lee had told her. The first walker fell dead, nearly on top of her. She reevaluated the same instructions for the other two.

There was no more ammunition now, Clem would have to find some.

She continued to trudge along, wiping the occasional tears that threatened to fall. Somehow, she ended up in a very wide field with no walkers and tall grass. Thoughts of Lee and her mom and dad wouldn't leave her mind. There was an abandoned red car, but no ammo, no supplies, no nothing. She decided to sit on a nearby log and momentarily rest.

Clementine looked around both ways, but it was all clear. She looked down and saw some spare bullets, and contemplated putting them in her gun. She looked up and saw something that she had just now noticed.

She squinted to get a better view. There were two figures, one shorter than the other, walking in the distance. Were they walkers? Clem couldn't be sure.

For a moment, she watched as the two figures continued walking. But suddenly, they stopped.

Clementine began breathing hard, afraid and not knowing what to do, especially since the figures appeared to be coming towards her. They couldn't be walkers, it was doubtful that walkers could see that far ahead.

Clem couldn't move, just watched the two people approach her. When they got close enough, she began running towards them. It was Christa and Omid! They were okay!

"Clementine!" Christa exclaimed. She and Omid began running (the latter still limping slightly), and both of them gathered Clementine in a hug. Clem buried her face in Christa's shirt and let the tears escape.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," Christa whispered.

"It's gonna be alright, Clem, you've still got us," Omid added.

Clementine sniffled and looked at him. "Wh-Where are..."

Omid and Christa were silent for a moment.

"They're dead, Clementine," Christa replied solemnly. "Ben, he...he fell from a balcony and got impaled in the stomach. And Kenny...he went down and tried to save him, but..."

"A herd came," Omid finished. "But...we didn't hear any screams from him, so...we don't know about him for sure."

"Oh," Clem sniffled. That made five people she had lost in a period of a day. _Five._

Christa sighed, and helped Clementine up. "Come on. We're going to get you somewhere safe, okay?"

The nine-year-old nodded. "Okay."

So they walked, Clementine holding Christa's hand, and Omid walking on the other side of them, hoping to find a safe place. Things were going to be okay. Things were going to be just fine.

**\\\\**

**And this is where I conclude Through Her Eyes. I want to thank you all so very much for taking the time to read and review (I'm close to 100!), and support this story. I'm probably going to start my AU about Sarah pretty soon, but updates will probably be less frequent because I'll be job-hunting starting next month or so. I'm still pondering about writing Season 2 (which would've been in Sarah's point of view, but someone else is already doing that, otherwise I wouldn't be writing the AU). Okay, well, it's time to end this story. Please, please review, and thank you again! :D**


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